Rash's Surname Index


Notes for Catherine Shober DRINKER

Catherine Drinker Bowen (born January 1, 1897 in Haverford, PA as Catherine Drinker - died November 1, 1973 in Haverford) was an American biographer. She won the 1958 National Book Award in nonfiction for The Lion and the Throne: The Life and Times of Sir Edward Coke. In addition, Bowen received the 1957 Philadelphia Award and the 1962 Women's National Book Association award. She married Ezra Bowen, Chair of Economics at Lehigh University and author of "Social Economics." She was survived by her son, Ezra Bowen (died Westport, CT, 1996), Sports Illustrated & Time-Life writer and editor; grandson, Ezra D. Bowen, and now great-grandchildren, Leslie R. Bowen and Elizabeth D. Bowen.

Writer and biographer Catherine Drinker Bowen was born on the Haverford College campus on January 1, 1897, to a prominent Quaker family. She was an accomplished violinist who studied for a musical career at the Peabody Institute and the Julliard School of Music, but ultimately decided to become a writer. She had no formal writing education, and no academic career, but became a bestselling writer despite criticism from academics. Her earliest biographies were about musicians. Bowen did all research herself, without hiring research assistants, and sometime took the controversial step of interviewing subjects without taking notes.

Bowen won the National Book Award in nonfiction for her work The Lion and the Throne: The Life and Times of Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), a biography of the prominent Elizabethan England lawyer. Her last book, Family Portrait, received critical acclaim, and was a Literary Guild selection. During her lifetime, she was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Philadelphia Award. At the time of her death in 1973, she was working on a biography of Benjamin Franklin, which was published posthumousl
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