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May Yonge McNeer Ward (pen name, May McNeer; 1902 in Tampa, Florida – 1994 in Reston, Virginia) was a 20th-century American journalist and writer.
Early life
Her first published story appeared in a Washington, D.C. newspaper when she was eleven years old. In high school she made a fateful decision to give up drawing for writing. She later settled the point for good by marrying visual artist Lynd Ward after his graduation from Columbia University in 1926.
Career and awards
She attended the University of Georgia School of Journalism. McNeer was the first female undergraduate at the University of Georgia in her freshman year. She graduated in 1926 from Columbia School of Journalism. That same year when they married, the couple spent four months in Eastern Europe followed by a year in Leipzig in Germany where Ward studied Graphic Arts and Bookmaking. Returning to the U.S. they began work on the writing and publication of books. Many of her works were illustrated by her husband.
In 1975, the two were jointly awarded the Regina Medal a literary award conferred annually by the U.S. based Catholic Library Association in recognition for "continued, distinguished contribution to children's literature without regard to the nature of the contribution".
In 2020, Beebliome Books began to release many of McNeer's titles as e-books. These include: Up a Crooked River; My Friend Mac; Prince Bantam; Bloomsday for Maggie; Stranger in the Pines; Tales from the Crescent Moon; Waif Maid; and Armed with Courage.
Personal life
The Wards lived in Cresskill, New Jersey, spending their summers in Canada. They had two daughters, Nanda and Robin (sic).
Death
McNeer died in Reston, Virginia in 1994, aged 92. She died 10 years following her husband's death.
Books
Landmark Books
- The California Gold Rush (1950)
- War Chief of the Seminoles (1954)
- The Alaska Gold Rush (1960)
References
- @Beebliome (3 March 2021). "Now for #Kindle BLOOMSDAY FOR MAGGIE by May McNeer, illustrated by Lynd Ward. Set in Florida during the wild days o…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- Halasz, Piri. "Ward Engravings on View", The New York Times, October 27, 1974. Accessed September 12, 2017. "Since then, Mr. Ward has illustrated more than 100 books for adults and children; they range from editions of Goethe's Faust and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to a number of children's books written by his wife, May McNeer Ward.... For the last 16 years, Mr. and Mrs. Ward have lived on Lambs Lane, in Cresskill, in a small house to which they have added a much larger studio."
- Steven L. Herb, "Storyteller without Words: The Graphic Novels of Lynd Ward", The Sixth Follett Lecture, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Dominican University, 14 April 2010