Frank Yerby

Infobox Writer
name = Frank Yerby


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birthname = Frank Garvin Yerby
birthdate = Birth date|1916|09|05
birthplace = Augusta, Georgia
United States
deathdate = death date and age|1991|11|29|1916|09|05
deathplace = Madrid, Spain
occupation = historical novelist
nationality = American
ethnicity = African American
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Frank Garvin Yerby (Birth date|1916|09|05 – death date|1991|11|29) was an African American historical novelist. He is best known as the first African American to write a best-selling novel and to have a book purchased by a Hollywood studio for a film adaptation.New Georgia Encyclopedia|id=h-523|name=Frank Yerby (1916-1991)|author=Valerie Frazier|date=2008-03-21|accessdate=2008-08-22]

Born in Augusta, Georgia to Rufus Garvin Yerby, an African American, and Wilhelmina Smythe, who was caucasian, Yerby was originally noted for writing romance novels set in the Antebellum South. In mid-century he embarked on a series of best-selling historical novels ranging from the Athens of Pericles to Europe in the Dark Ages. Yerby took considerable pains in research, and often footnoted his historical novels. In all he wrote 33 novels. In 1946 he became the first African-American to publish a best-seller with "The Foxes of Harrow". That same year he also became the first African-American to have a book purchased for screen adaptation by a Hollywood studio, when 20th Century Fox optioned "Foxes". Ultimately the book became a 1947 Oscar-nominated film starring Rex Harrison and Maureen O'Hara.

Yerby left the United States in 1955 in protest against racial discrimination, moving to Spain (then under the Franco regime) where he remained for the rest of his life. Frank Yerby died from congestive heart failure in Madrid and was interred there in the Cementerio de la Almudena.

Partial bibliography

*"The Foxes of Harrow" (1946)
*"The Vixens" (1947)
*"The Golden Hawk" (1948)
*"Pride's Castle" (1949)
*"Floodtide" (1950)
*"A Woman Called Fancy" (1951)
*"The Saracen Blade (1952)
*"The Devil's Laughter" (1953)
*"Bride of Liberty" (1954)
*"Benton's Row" (1954)
*"The Treasure of Pleasant Valley" (1955)
*"Captain Rebel" (1955)
*"Fair Oaks" (1957)
*"The Serpent and The Staff" (1958)
*"Jarrett's Jade" (1959)
*"Gillian" (1960)
*"The Garfield Honor" (1961)
*"Griffin's Way" (1962)
*"The Old Gods Laugh" (1964)
*"An Odor of Sanctity" (1965)*"Goat Song" (1967)
*"Judas, My Brother" (1968)
*"Speak Now" (1969)
*"The Dahomean" (1971, later published as "The Man from Dahomey")
*"The Girl From Storeyville" (1972)
*"The Voyage Unplanned" (1974)
*"Tobias and the Angel" (1975)
*"A Rose for Ana Maria" (1976)
*"Hail the Conquering Hero" (1977)
*"A Darkness at Ingraham's Crest" (1979)
*"" (1982)
*"Devilseed" (1984)
*"McKenzie's Hundred" (1985)

External links

* [http://www.frankyerby.com/ Frank Yerby Renaissance Project] Tribute/research site
* [http://www.frankyerby.com/view.html Frank Yerby Renaissance Project] Tribute/research site/Bibliography
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7293630 Photo]

ee also

* Alexandre Dumas, père
* Karl May
* Baroness Orczy
* Rafael Sabatini
* Emilio Salgari
* Sir Walter Scott
* Lawrence Schoonover
* Samuel Shellabarger
* Jules Verne

References