Miriam Allen deFord
(August 21, 1888 – February 22, 1975)
Miriam Allen deFord, an American writer best known for her mysteries, also wrote science fiction for the prozines, especially F&SF, once Anthony Boucher became editor, and attended conventions.
During the 1920s, she wrote for a number of left-wing magazines including The Masses, The Liberator, and the Federated Press. Her short story "A Death in the Family" appeared on Night Gallery's second season appearing in Episode Two, Segment One, with Desi Arnez, Jr.
A Fortean, she once did research for Charles Fort, with whom she corresponded from 1921 until Fort's death in 1932. She is mentioned in Fort's book Lo!
She was active in the suffragette movement. She became a journalist, working for the Philadelphia North American. Later, she joined the IWW. From 1915–20, she was married to anarchist and mystic William Armistead Nelson Collier, Jr. (1874-1947). After divorcing him, she was married to socialist science fact author and lecturer Maynard Shipley (1872–1934) from 1921 until his death in 1934, and wrote a biography of him.
More Reading:
- “Miriam Allen deFord (1888-1975)” by Terence E. Hanley, Tellers of Weird Tales, October 17, 2014.
- “Miriam Allen de Ford and Maynard Shipley as Forteans,” by Joshua BluBuhs, From an Oblique Angle, November 13, 2015.
- Article on her life and work in the July, 2019, issue of Tightbeam.
- Bibliography at ISFDB.
- Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
- Works at Project Gutenberg.
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1970 — SFCon 70
| Person | 1888—1975 |
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