Edna Ferber | Author | LibraryThing

About the Author

Edna Ferber was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Aug. 15, 1885. She spent her early career as a reporter. In 1910, Everybody's Magazine published her short story, The Homely Heroine, set in Appleton, Wisconsin. Ferber's novel, Dawn O'Hara, the story of a newspaperwoman in Milwaukee, followed in 1911. show more She gained national attention for her series of Emma McChesney stories, tales of a traveling underskirt saleswoman that were published in national magazines. A play based on the stories, Our Mrs. McChesney, was produced in 1915, starring Ethel Barrymore. With collaborator George S. Kaufman, Ferber wrote acclaimed plays Dinner at Eight and The Royal Family. Ferber won the Pulitzer Prize in 1925 for So Big, the story of a woman raising a child on a truck farm outside of Chicago. Her best known books include Show Boat, Cimarron, Giant and Ice Palace. Show Boat was made into a classic movie and Broadway musical; the film version of Cimarron, won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1931. Ferber wrote two autobiographies, A Peculiar Treasure published in 1939 and A Kind of Magic in 1963. She died of cancer on April 16, 1968. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Edna Ferber, Edna Farber, Edga Ferber, Edba Ferber, Edna Ferner, Edna Ferber etc., Ferber's Edna, Edna Ferbers, Illustrated by Cover Art

Series

Emma McChesney

Works by Edna Ferber

Popular Recent

So Big (1924) — Author — 1,005 copies

Giant (1952) 705 copies

Show Boat (1926) 461 copies

Cimarron (1929) — Author — 317 copies

Saratoga Trunk (1941) 239 copies

Ice Palace (1958) 198 copies

Great Son (1944) 165 copies

One Basket: Thirty-One Short Stories (1947) 102 copies

Fanny Herself (1917) 100 copies

American Beauty (1931) — Author — 94 copies

A Peculiar Treasure (1939) 91 copies

Stage Door (1936) 87 copies

Roast Beef, Medium: The Business Adventures of Emma McChesney (1913) 80 copies

Three Living Novels of American Life: Show Boat, So Big, Cimarron (1958) 73 copies

Come and Get It (1935) 58 copies

Dawn O'Hara: The Girl Who Laughed (1911) 51 copies

The Royal Family (1927) 50 copies

The Girls (1921) 49 copies

Edna Ferber: Five Complete Novels (1981) 49 copies

Buttered Side Down (1912) 48 copies

Emma McChesney and Co. (1915) 43 copies

Dinner at Eight: A Play in Three Acts (1932) 40 copies

Personality Plus: Some Experiences of Emma McChesney and Her Son, Jock (1914) 35 copies

A Kind of Magic (1963) 26 copies

Gigolo (1977) 25 copies

Show Boat [vocal score] (1927) — Novel — 23 copies

Half Portions (1920) 21 copies

Three Comedies (2000) 20 copies

Cheerful—By Request (1922) 20 copies

The Complete James Dean Collection: East of Eden / Giant / Rebel Without a Cause (2011) — Writer — 18 copies

Mother Knows Best (1927) 13 copies

Nobody's in Town (1939) 9 copies

They Brought Their Women (1970) 8 copies

Minick: A Play Based on the Short Story (1924) 7 copies

Los Premios Pulitzer de novela (II) (1964) 7 copies

No Room at the Inn (1941) 7 copies

Trees Die at the Top (1951) 5 copies

Bravo! Play in Three Acts (1949) 4 copies

Edna Ferber: Six Complete Novels (1935) 2 copies

Old Man Minick [short story] 2 copies

The Collected Short Stories of Edna Ferber: Including Buttered Side Down, Cheerful By Request, Half Portions, and… (2022) 2 copies

The Gay Old Dog (2009) 2 copies

$1200 A Year: A Comedy in Three Acts (2019) 1 copy

The Girls and Other Stories (2013) 1 copy

The Homely Heroine (2004) 1 copy

The Afternoon of a Faun 1 copy

The Woman Who Tried to Be Good and Other Stories (2004) 1 copy

Your Town: Stories By Edna Ferber (1948) 1 copy

That's Marriage [short story] 1 copy

Farmer in the Dell {short story} 1 copy

Saratoga: An Original Cast Recording 1 copy

The Land Is Bright 1 copy

Old Man Minick: A Short Story / Minick: A Play Based on the Short Story (1924) 1 copy

The classic collection of Edna Ferber. Pulitzer Prize 1925. Novels, Novellas and short stories. Illustrated: So Big,… (2023) 1 copy

Saratoga (Playbill) [Vol 4 No 6] 1 copy

The Royal Family: Acts 1 & 2 1 copy

The Works: Edna Ferber 1 copy

Complete Works of Edna Ferber (2021) 1 copy

Ferber, Edna Archive 1 copy

Show Boat, Volume 1 1 copy

Show Boat, Volume 2 1 copy

The Eldest: A Drama of American life 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

100 Years of the Best American Short Stories (2015) — Contributor — 290 copies

Kaufman & Co.: Broadway Comedies (2004) 252 copies

This Is My Best (1942) — Contributor — 188 copies

An Anthology of Famous American Stories (1953) — Contributor — 139 copies

Giant [1956 film] (1956) — Original book — 137 copies

Growing Up Jewish: An Anthology (1970) — Contributor — 123 copies

America and I: Short Stories by American Jewish Women Writers (1990) — Contributor — 118 copies

Show Boat [1951 film] (1951) — Original novel — 107 copies

The Vicious Circle: Mystery and Crime Stories by Members of the Algonquin Round Table (2007) — Contributor — 87 copies

Twenty Best Plays of the Modern American Theatre (1939) — Contributor — 75 copies

A Golden Treasure of Jewish Literature (1937) — Contributor — 75 copies

Bedside Book of Famous American Stories (1936) — Contributor — 72 copies

American Christmas Stories (2021) — Contributor — 62 copies

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright: Christmas Stories by Women (1988) — Contributor — 52 copies

Stage Door [1937 film] (1937) — Original play — 49 copies

My Story That I Like Best (1924) — Contributor — 41 copies

The Pioneers: Novels of the American Frontier (1988) — Author — 29 copies

The Strange History of Suzanne LaFleshe and Other Stories of Women and Fatness (2003) — Contributor — 27 copies

Cimarron [1931 film] (1931) — Original novel — 26 copies

The Best Short Stories of 1917 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story (2007) — Contributor — 25 copies

Show Boat (Piano/Vocal/Songbook) (1927) — Original book — 20 copies

Show Boat: A Musical Play in Two Acts (Libretto) (1934) — Orignal book — 16 copies

Reader's Digest Condensed Books 1953 v01 (1953) 15 copies

The Panorama of Modern Literature (1934) — Contributor — 14 copies

Cimarron [1960 film] (1960) — Original novel — 12 copies

Gender in Modernism: New Geographies, Complex Intersections (2007) — Contributor — 12 copies

Gringos in Mexico: An Anthology (1988) — Contributor — 10 copies

The Best Short Stories of 1923 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story (1924) — Contributor — 9 copies

O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1919 (1919) — Contributor — 9 copies

Come and Get It [1936 film] (1936) — Original novel — 8 copies

Saratoga Trunk [1945 film] (2011) — Original novel — 6 copies

George S. Kaufman and His Collaborators: Three Plays (1984) — Contributor — 6 copies

20 Best Short Stories in Ray Long's 20 Years As an Editor (1932) — Contributor — 5 copies

So Big [1953 film] (1953) — Original novel — 5 copies

30 Eternal Masterpieces of Humorous Stories (2017) — Contributor — 4 copies

Nelson Doubleday, 1889-1949 (1949) — Contributor — 3 copies

Contemporary Short Stories: Representative Selections, Volume 2 (1954) — Contributor — 2 copies

Celebration: 60 Years of Good Reading from 60 Authors Chosen by the Literary Guild (1987) 2 copies

Aces: A Collection of Short Stories (1924) — Contributor — 2 copies

Avon Modern Short Story Monthly No. 7 (14 Great stories by 14 Great Authors) (1943) — Contributor — 1 copy

So Big! [1932 film] (1932) — Original novel — 1 copy

The Ethnic Image in Modern American Literature, 1900-1950 (1984) — Contributor — 1 copy

Giant [Abridged - Reader's Digest] (1976) — Original book — 1 copy

Omnibook Magazine (Overseas Edition for Armed Forces) July 1945 — Author — 1 copy

Tagged

20th century (73) Alaska (25) America (37) American (63) American fiction (29) American literature (118) anthology (105) Chicago (40) Christmas (24) classic (46) classics (63) drama (69) DVD (51) ebook (48) Edna Ferber (31) fiction (874) first edition (38) hardcover (25) historical (29) historical fiction (116) Kindle (62) Library of America (56) literature (112) musical (27) novel (119) own (23) play (27) plays (63) Pulitzer (45) Pulitzer Prize (43) read (32) romance (24) short stories (195) Texas (67) theatre (43) to-read (199) unread (37) USA (29) western (38) women (24)

Common Knowledge

Other names: FERBER, Edna
Birthdate: 1885-08-15
Date of death: 1968-04-16
Gender: female
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Place of death: New York, New York, USA
Cause of death: cancer
Places of residence: Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Ottumwa, Iowa, USA
Appleton, Wisconsin, USA
New York, New York, USA
Education: Lawrence University
Occupations: reporter
playwright
novelist
short-story writer
Organizations: Algonquin Round Table
Awards and honors: Chicago Literary Hall of Fame (2013)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (1930)

Members

Discussions

June 2023: Edna Ferber in Monthly Author Reads (November 2023)

Reviews

Giant by Edna Ferber

saw the movie; very good adaptation; stronger racial angle in book and questionable legality of Texas whites to steal land.

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Dorothy2012 | 12 other reviews | Apr 22, 2024 |

Show boat by Edna Ferber

saw the movie (musical); lots of liberties with plotline; not the same story as book At All; book focused more on Parthy and Magnolia's life.

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Dorothy2012 | 6 other reviews | Apr 22, 2024 |

Ice Palace by Edna Ferber

Ice Palace is a 1960 Technicolor historical drama adventure film directed by Vincent Sherman and adapted from a novel of 1958 written by Edna Ferber. The film stars Richard Burton, Robert Ryan, Carolyn Jones and Martha Hyer. It dramatizes the debate over Alaska statehood.

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RedeemedRareBooks | 3 other reviews | Mar 24, 2024 |

So Big: A Novel by Edna Ferber

I enjoyed this book. Took place in the prairie just outside of Chicago. A farming novel from the 1920’s. Reminded me of a Willa Cather novel with a strong female main character. The title was a bit wired. Didn’t have much to do with the general vibe of the book as it pertains to a childhood name for her son.

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Lisl | 38 other reviews | Jan 28, 2024 |

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