Margaret Larkin

Margaret Larkin Biography

Margaret Larkin (July 7, 1899 - May 7, 1967) was an American writer, poet, singer-songwriter, researcher, journalist and union activist.

She wrote The Hand of Mordechai on a kibbutz in Israel, Seven Shares in a Gold Mine about a murder conspiracy in Mexico, and the Singing Cowboy, a collection of Western folk songs. She won awards for her poem Goodbye"?To My Mother and her play El Cristo.

Life

Larkin was born on July 7, 1899 in Las Vegas, New Mexico to parents from English and Scottish descent. She studied at the University of Kansas. In 1922 she won the Poetry Prize of the Kansas Author Club.

After moving to the East Coast, she married Liston Oak and became a trade union activist. In 1926 she wrote the titles of the silent film The Passaic Textile Strike. In the thirties she was active as a singer/songwriter and composer of folk songs.

After divorcing her first husband she met writer Albert Maltz in 1935. Maltz was 9 years younger. They married in 1937. Maltz was blacklisted as one of the Hollywood Ten due to his refusal to tell the House Un-American Activities Committee whether he was a member of the American Communist Party.

Larkin, her husband, and their two children moved to Mexico City in 1951. In 1964 they were officially divorced, after Maltz had already returned to the United States.

Larkin assisted anthropologist Oscar Lewis in the research and writing of La Vida - A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture Of Poverty (1966). Her last book was The Hand of Mordechai, on kibbutz Yad Mordechai around the Israeli War of Independence. It was published in Hebrew (1966), Yiddish (1967), English (1968), German (1970), and Russian (197?). Larkin was represented by literary agent Barthold Fles.

She died in Mexico City on May 7, 1967, aged 67. Her granddaughter, Mira Larkin, is an actress and production manager.

Bibliography

Books

1926 - El Cristo, a drama in one act
1931 - Singing Cowboy, a book of western songs
1958 - Seven Shares in a Gold Mine
1966 - The Hand of Mordechai (a.k.a. The Six Days of Yad Mordechai)

Poetry

1922 - "Goodbye"?To My Mother" in The Poets of the Future, A College Anthology for 1921-1922: 156
1924 - "Four Poems", The Midlands 10: 385.

Articles

1927-03 - "A Poet for the People: A Review" (of Langston Hughes: Fine Clothes to the Jew), Opportunity 3: 84-85.
1929-10-09 - "Ella May's Songs". The Nation 129 (3353): 382-383.
1933-02 - "Revolutionary music", New Masses: 27.
1934-09-05 - "Beale Street: Where the Blues Began (Book review)". The Nation 139 (3609): 279.
1966-11-14 - "As Many as God Sends? Family Planning in Mexico", The Nation 203 (16): 508-511.

Filmography

1926 - The Passaic Textile Strike - title writer

Awards

1922 - Best Poem submitted to the Kansas Authors' Club for Goodbye"?To My Mother
1926 - David Belasco Cup for El Cristo
1926 - Samuel French Prize for El Cristo

This webpage uses material from the Wikipedia article "Margaret_Larkin" and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions the Wikipedia article may contain.

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