Discipline: Literature

Faith McNulty

Discipline: Literature
Region: Wakefield, RI
MacDowell Fellowships: 1993
Faith McNulty was an American non-fiction author, probably best known for her 1980 book The Burning Bed. She is also known for her authorship of wildlife pieces and books, including children's books. McNulty was a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine from 1953 to 1994. In 1980, a collection of her work was published as The Wildlife Stories of Faith McNulty. For many years, she edited the annual New Yorker compilation of the year's best children's books. She also frequently wrote children's books on wildlife, including How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World in 1979 and When I Lived With Bats in 1998. Her 1966 book The Whooping Crane: The Bird that Defies Distinction was written for adults. The Burning Bed told the true story of Francine Hughes, who set fire to the bedroom in which her husband was sleeping. Hughes defended herself by saying that her husband had been abusing her for 13 years. The jury at her trial ruled that she had been temporarily insane, and she was found not guilty. Toward the end of her life, McNulty wrote a weekly column for The Providence Journal on a local animal shelter run by the Animal Welfare League, the Rhode Island chapter of which was founded by her mother. McNulty had long been known for taking in stray animals at her farm.

Studios

Banks

Faith McNulty worked in the Banks studio.

Banks, an ell on the north end of the Lodge dormitory, was first used as an artist’s studio in 1970. Since then, it has played host to an extraordinary list of writers working in several disciplines. In all seasons, Fellows have enjoyed the pastoral view through the French doors facing a field…

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