Discipline: Literature

Edith Mirrielees

Discipline: Literature
MacDowell Fellowships: 1927
Edith Mirrielees (1878-1962) was a pioneering teacher of creative writing; she inspired many talented, distinguished students, including novelist John Steinbeck at Stanford University. From 1909 to 1944 she was first instructor and then professor of English literature at Stanford University. She is best known for her courses in creative writing and for the influence she had on such famous American writers as John Steinbeck, Howard Pease, Archie Binns, Allen Drury, and Irma Hannibal. Her book Story Writing is an essential reference in the field. During World War I she served with the Stanford Red Cross unit in France. She was an advisor on educational matters to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. After retirement, she founded and published the magazine Pacific Spectator (1947-1951). In 1951 she wrote the foreword for the speculative fiction anthology World of Wonder, edited by Fletcher Pratt. In 1959 she published Stanford: The Story of a University. In 1961, Mills College awarded her an honorary doctorate in letters in recognition of her outstanding contribution as a professor.

Studios

Monday Music

Edith Mirrielees worked in the Monday Music studio.

Given to the residency by the Monday Music Club of Orange, NJ, Monday Music Studio is sited next to an enormous boulder deposited by glaciers thousands of years ago. A small dormer once pierced the east slope of the roof, but after damage suffered in the 1938 hurricane, the roof was rebuilt without the dormer. The interior…

Learn more