Margaret Larkin

Margaret Larkin
Born	July 7, 1899 Las Vegas, New Mexico
Died	May 7, 1967 Mexico City, Mexico
Occupation	writer, poet, singer-songwriter, researcher, and union activist
Nationality	American
Period	1922-1967
Genres	fiction, non-fiction
Notable work(s)	The Hand of Mordechai Seven shares in a Gold Mine Singing Cowboy
Notable award(s)	Kansas Authors' Club Poetry Prize David Belasco Cup Samuel French Prize
Spouse(s)	Liston Oak Albert Maltz
Relative(s)	Mira Larkin

Margaret Larkin (July 7, 1899 - May 7, 1967) was an American writer, poet, singer-songwriter, researcher, journalist and union activist.

She wrote The Hand of Mordechai on a kibbutz in Israel, Seven Shares in a Gold Mine about a murder conspiracy in Mexico, and the Singing Cowboy, a collection of Western folk songs.^[1] She won awards for her poem Goodbye—To My Mother and her play El Cristo.

Life

Larkin was born on July 7, 1899 in Las Vegas, New Mexico to parents from English and Scottish descent.^[2] She studied at the University of Kansas.^[3] In 1922 she won the Poetry Prize of the Kansas Author Club.

After moving to the East Coast, she married Liston Oak and became a trade union activist.^[3] In 1926 she wrote the titles of the silent film The Passaic Textile Strike.^[4] In the thirties she was active as a singer/songwriter and composer of folk songs.^[3]

After divorcing her first husband she met writer Albert Maltz in 1935. Maltz was 9 years younger. They married in 1937.^[3] Maltz was blacklisted as one of the Hollywood Ten due to his refusal to tell the House Un-American Activities Committee whether he was a member of the American Communist Party.^{[3] [2]}

Larkin, her husband, and their two children moved to Mexico City in 1951.^[2] In 1964 they were officially divorced, after Maltz had already returned to the United States.^[2][5]

Larkin assisted anthropologist Oscar Lewis in the research and writing of La Vida - A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture Of Poverty (1966).^[3] Her last book was The Hand of Mordechai, on kibbutz Yad Mordechai around the Israeli War of Independence. It was published in Hebrew (1966), Yiddish (1967) and posthumously in English (1968). In 1970 this book was also published in German. Larkin was represented by literary agent Barthold Fles.^[3]

She died in Mexico City on May 7, 1967, aged 67.^[3] Her granddaughter, Mira Larkin, is an actress and production manager.^[6]

Bibliography

Books

• 1926 - El Cristo, a drama in one act
• 1931 - Singing Cowboy, a book of western songs^[7]
• 1958 - Seven Shares in a Gold Mine
• 1966 - The Hand of Mordechai (a.k.a. The Six Days of Yad Mordechai)

Poetry

• 1922 - "Goodbye—To My Mother" in The Poets of the Future, A College Anthology for 1921-1922: 156
• 1924 - "Four Poems", The Midlands 10: 385.

Articles

• 1927-03 - "A Poet for the People: A Review" (of Langston Hughes: Fine Clothes to the Jew), Opportunity 3: 84-85.
• 1929-10-09 - "Ella May's Songs". The Nation 129 (3353): 382-383.
• 1933-02 - "Revolutionary music", New Masses: 27.
• 1934-09-05 - "Beale Street: Where the Blues Began (Book review)". The Nation 139 (3609): 279.
• 1966-11-14 - "As Many as God Sends? Family Planning in Mexico", The Nation 203 (16): 508-511.

Filmography

• 1926 - The Passaic Textile Strike - title writer

Awards

• 1922 - Best Poem submitted to the Kansas Authors' Club^[8] for Goodbye—To My Mother
• 1926 - David Belasco Cup for El Cristo
• 1926 - Samuel French Prize for El Cristo

References

1. ^ Reuss, JoAnne (2000). American folk music and left wing politics, 1927-1957. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 71. ISBN 9780810836846. http://books.google.com/?id=EycS7FSTAyUC&pg=PA70&dq=%22margaret+larkin%22. Retrieved 2009-07-30. "In 1931, she published some of the songs she heard in the West in Singing Cowboy, which is still viewed by scholars as an important collection." 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Wald, Alan (2007). Trinity of Passion: The Literary Left and the Antifascist Crusade. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 81–83. ISBN 0807830755. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Margaret Larkin, writer, 67, dead". New York Times May 11, 1967.
4. ^ "Detail view of Movies Page". Afi.com. http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=1&Movie=1544. Retrieved 2011-07-18. 
5. ^ "Trinity of passion: the literary ...". Books.google.com. 1929-10-09. http://books.google.com/books?id=EJ7lFKljctAC&pg=PA81&dq=%22margaret+larkin%22. Retrieved 2011-07-18. 
6. ^ Internet media database
7. ^ Riggs, Lynn (1931-12-16). "High, Wide, and Handsome". The Nation 133 (3467): 674. ISSN 00278378. 
8. ^ "As long as the lamp holds out to burn". The Graduate magazine of the University of Kansas 20: p. 29. May 1922. "Margaret Larkin, '23, won the $100 prize for the best poem of the year submitted to the Kansas Authors' club." 

External links

• Margaret Larkin at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Larkin, Margaret
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 7, 1899
Place of birth	Las Vegas, New Mexico
Date of death	May 7, 1967
Place of death	Mexico City, Mexico