2. About the poet - Carolyn Wells

Carolyn Wells was born on June \(18\), \(1862\), in New Jersey. She is a well-acclaimed American poet and writer. She was born to William E and Anna Wells. She had a passion for writing from a very young age. She had a hearing loss caused by Scarlet fever when she was as young as six. She wrote to compensate the loss of hearing stories. She focussed on Mysteries, parodies and mostly Children's literature.

 

She started her career as a librarian at the Rahway Library Association. She was very much interested in puzzles, which led her to write her first book, 'At the Sign of the Sphinx', which was a collection of literary charades. Scholars have selected the book as being culturally important. It was published in \(1886\). It was only after \(1990\) that Well wrote numerous novels and collections of poetry. During the first half of her writing career, she focused on poetry, mysteries and humour. She was so lured by Anna Katherine Green's mystery novels as a child, that she devoted herself to the genre of mystery. She introduced something known as Fleming Stone Detective stories, which became quite popular.

 

Wells conducted annual series based on Short Crime Fiction, selecting the Best American Mystery Stories of the Year. Her poetry was also collected and published in famous Newspapers like 'The New York Herald'. She included illustrations and cartoons in her works. Her first illustrated work was 'Animal Alphabet', which was a two-part series. She mentioned about her love for mysteries in her autobiography, 'The Rest of My Life'.