Author Ellen Douglas, passed away on Wednesday Nov. 7 at 91-years-old. The Mississippi novelist wrote "Apostles of Light" in 1973 which was a prestigious National Book Award nominee.
Ellen Douglas is a pen name for Josephine Ayers Haxton, The Associated Press reported. She took the name to give anonymity to her family and guard their privacy. Douglas was born in 1921 and grew up in Hope, Arkansans and Alexandria, Louisiana. The AP reported that she went to the University of Mississippi and graduated in 1942.
During her expansive career Douglas wrote 11 books that included six novels and collections of short stories and essays. These include "A Family's Affairs" which she wrote in 1961, "The Rock Cried Out" in 1979, "A Lifetime Burning" in 1982 and many more.
The AP reported that her most well-known book, "Apostles of Light" is about the "mistreatment of residents at a home for the elderly in fictional Homochitto, Miss., the town in many of her works."
Douglas' worked often touched on issues such as race and her 1979 novel, "The Rock Cried Out" is about a man from Mississippi whose cousin was killed during the civil rights movement during the Freedom Summer of 1964.
Douglas lived in Jackson for nearly 30 years and raised her family in Greenville, Mississippi and is survived by her three sons, Brooks, Ayres and Richard Haxton. She has claimed her literary influences include William Faulkner. She won the lifetime achievement award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters in 2008.
The AP reported that State Rep. Steve Holland, a funeral director who is handling Douglas' arrangements said to the AP that Douglas died after an extended illness and would be buried in Natchez.
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