Edgar Lee Masters(1868-1950)

American poet, novelist and biographer Edgar Lee Masters was born in Garnet, KS, in 1868. His father was an attorney and local politician. The family later moved to Petersburg, IL, before settling in Lewiston, IL (the setting for Masters' successful "Spoon River" books). After leaving college he worked in his father's law office for a while, then was admitted into the state bar in 1891. However, the next year he left home for Chicago, where he worked for various newspapers, all the while submitting stories and poems to local magazines. He soon opened a law office in Chicago, which proved to be quite successful, but in 1920 he gave up the practice of law to devote his full time to writing.

He was a prolific writer, turning out short stories, novels, plays, biographies and poems. His most famous works are the "Spoon River" books, an innovative series based on the epitaphs on the graves found in a cemetery in the fictional community of Spoon River, and it was hailed by critics as "one of the most original pieces of imaginative literature" ever written.