Biography of Susan Glaspell

Susan Glaspell was a playwright, novelist, journalist, and actress. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1931 for her play Alison's House.  She was just the second woman to win the Pulitzer. Born in 1876 in Davenport, Iowa, she graduated from high school in 1894 and immediately went to work at the Davenport Morning Republican newspaper as a reporter. After two years, she was given an editorial post on the weekly magazine and wrote a regular column. Three years after high school, she enrolled in college and graduated in 1899 from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, with a BA in Philosophy. After graduation, she went to work at the Des Moines Daily News as a Statehouse reporter. While there she wrote a regular column called "The News Girl." After working at the Daily News for a short time, she retired from reporting and became a full time freelance writer. She won her first prize for writing in 1904.

She met her future husband, George "Jig" Cram Cook in Davenport, but at the time, he was engaged and subsequently married to another woman. Despite his marriage, he and Susan continued their romantic involvement. In 1911, he divorced from his wife and in 1913, Glaspell and Cook married. In 1915, they went to Provincetown, Massachussetts, for the summer. It was an enclave for artists and writers and the couple found that several of their new friends had written plays. Cook and Glaspell decided to have them performed for the entertainment of those assembled. These simple performances soon drew the attention of the wider community and the Provincetown Players were born.

In the next seven years, the Players had premiered more than ninety new plays by more than fifty American Playwrights.

For more on Susan Glaspell, please see the following:
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