Illinois Authors

The Illinois Center for the Book banner

Bernadine F. Bailey

Born: 1901, in Mattoon, Illinois
Died: 1995 in Illinois

Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Bailey was born in Mattoon but spent most of her life in the Chicago area. She earned her MA at the University of Chicago.

Biography: Bernadine Bailey worked for various Chicago publishers and as a free-lance writer in the mid-1930s. For a time she was directing staff editor for Childcraft, a long popular educational series for children.

She was a prolific author and world traveler. Bailey wrote over 100 books in her lifetime, with subjects ranging from six biographies and countless children's books, to an adult political book called, 'The Captive Nations: Our First Line of Defense,' which was based on six years of study, research, interviews and travel. She had written and edited many books for young people, and she contributed widely to educational texts and reference works. She began her writing career writing and editing children's books and published books on Abraham Lincoln.

Her articles appeared in publications including 'Reader's Digest,' 'The New York Times,' 'The Chicago Tribune,' 'Travel Magazine,' and 'The Christian Science Monitor.' One of her novels, 'Paris, I Love You,' won the author a decoration from the French Societes des Arts, Sciences, et Lettres.


Awards:

Primary Literary Genre(s): Fiction; Non-Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers; Young adult readers

:


Selected Titles

 

 

Accessibility