Novelist Borden Deal (1922-1985) was born Loyse Youth Deal in Pontotoc, Mississippi. In his youth, Deal joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and fought fires in the Pacific Northwest, and worked on a showboat, at a lumber mill, and as a migrant laborer. Deal then moved to Washington D.C., where he became an auditor for the U.S. Department of Labor. After briefly serving for the U.S. Navy, he attended college at the University of Alabama where he studied creative writing under Hudson Strode.
Deal began publishing his writings in 1948, completing 21 books and more than 100 short stories during his career. He married fellow writer Babs Deal in 1952. They lived and worked in Tuscaloosa, Scottsboro, and Sarasota, locations that inspired the settings of Deal’s most well-known novels such as Dunbar’s Cove (1957) and The Insolent Breed (1959). Deal garnered various honors and awards during his four-decade career, including a 1957 Guggenheim Fellowship. He died in Sarasota, Florida.
