James Thurber

James Thurber, one of the outstanding American humorists of the twentieth century, was born and educated in Columbus. He launched his writing career as a reporter for The Columbus Dispatch in 1920, and in 1927 he began writing for The New Yorker, where the first of his distinctively spare cartoons appeared in 1930. His concise, witty prose spanned autobiography, fiction, children's fantasy, and modern commentary, and his short stories “The Catbird Seat” and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” became among the best-known classics of American literature. Though hampered by failing eyesight, he published almost thirty books in his lifetime. He and his family lived at 77 Jefferson Avenue from 1913 to 1917, and the house later became a literary center and museum in 1984. Thurber is buried in Columbus' Green Lawn Cemetery.

Columbus, Ohio · United States