Benet, Laura (1884–1979)

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Benet, Laura (1884–1979)

American poet, biographer, and novelist. Name variations: Laura Bénet. Born June 1, 1884, in Fort Hamilton, NY; died Feb 17, 1979, in New York, NY; dau. of Colonel James Walker and Frances Neill Rose Benet; graduate of Emma Willard School; Vassar College, BA, 1907; Moravian College, LittD.

Was a worker at Spring Street Settlement in NY (1915–17), placement worker at Children's Aid Society (1917), sanitary inspector, American Red Cross in Augusta, GA (1917–19), worker at St. Bartholomew's House (1924–25), secretary and assistant book page editor, New York Evening Post (1927–28), assistant editor at New York Sun (1928–29); began freelance writing (1930); poetry includes Fair Bred (1921), Noah's Dove (1929), A Basket for a Fair (1934), Is Morning Sure (1947), In Love with Time (1959); fiction includes Goods and Chattels 1930, The Hidden Valley (1938), Roxana Ramphant (1940), Come Slowly, Eden: A Novel about Emily Dickinson (1942); biographies include The Boy Shelley (1937), Enchanting Jenny Lind (1939), Young Edgar Allan Poe (1941), Famous American Poets (1950), Famous American Humorists (1959) and Famous Storytellers (1968).