One of America's most admired authors, Eudora Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1909. . She was educated locally and at Mississippi State College for Women, the University of Wisconsin, and the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. She is the author of, among many other books, One Writer's Beginnings, The Robber Bridegroom, Delta Wedding, The Ponder Heart, Losing Battles, and The Optimist's Daughter which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. She died in 2001.