RICHARD WILBUR (1921- )
Born in New York City, Wilbur published his first poem at the age of eight. In 1942 he graduated from Amherst where he was the editor of the college newspaper. After serving in the army during World War II, he did graduate work at Harvard, then taught at Wellesley, Wesleyan and Smith. Wilbur published several volumes of poetry and translated the French works of Molière, Racine and others. Named the United States Poet Laureate for 1987-8, he also won two Pulitzer Prizes, a National Book Award and many other honors.

JOHN LA TOUCHE (1914-1956) (also written Latouche)
Born in Baltimore and growing up in Virginia, La Touche attended Columbia University for two years without graduating. He was the author of the lyrics for the Ballad for Americans which was featured at the 1940 conventions of both the Republican and Communist parties. A frequent performer with singers Paul Robson and Bing Crosby, he also wrote the libretti for Douglas Moore's opera The Ballad of Baby Doe, for a contemporary version of John Gay's Beggar's Opera, and for several musicals.

LILLIAN HELLMAN (1905-1984)
The playwright was born in New Orleans and studied at Columbia and New York University. She was romantically involved with mystery writer Dasheill Hammett and was the inspiration for his Nora Charles in The Thin Man. A longtime friend of Dorothy Parker, she was the first woman nominated for an Original Screenplay Academy Award for Julia (in which Parker is portrayed). Among her plays are The Children's Hour, The Little Foxes and Toys in the Attic. Linked with left-wing causes, she was blacklisted in Hollywood from the late 1940s to 1960 and named with Hammet in 1952, by the House UnAmerican Affairs Committee as a member of the Communist Party. She insisted she was never a member. Before World War II she served on the Keep America Out of War Committee.

HUGH WHEELER (1912-1987)
Born in England, the playwright, screenwriter, librettist, poet and translator lived in the United States from 1946 until his death. He used several noms de plume, and won Tony and Drama Desk Awards for A Little Night Music, Candide and Sweeney Todd.

DOROTHY PARKER(1893-1967)
Known today for some of her wisecracks (including "I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true", "Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses", and "[Katherine Hepburn] runs the gamut of emotions from A to B"), Parker was an author, poet, critic and screenwriter. She attended Roman Catholic schools in New York, but her formal education ended at age thirteen. She then played piano at a dancing school to earn a living while writing poetry; her first poem was published in 1914. A founding member, with Robert Benchley and Robert E. Sherwood, of the Algonquin Round Table, magazines she wrote for included, Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Life, McCall's and The New Republic. She wrote the script for A Star is Born, and was nominated for an Academy Award. Parker's commitment to left-leaning causes began in 1927 with the pending executions of Sacco and Vanzetti. She protested, was briefly arrested, and became a Civil Libertarian. Listed as a Communist, she was placed on the Blacklist. On her death, she bequeathed her estate to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Foundation; it later went to NAACP.

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Revised August 2008
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