If you live in or near Columbus, Ohio (where James Thurber was born waaaay back in 1894), you can honor him this coming Saturday while helping out Thurber House by attending a fundraiser. All the info here.
About the fundraiser from The Columbus Dispatch (where Thurber worked before heading off to the bright lights and big city):
“The event will include dinner from City Barbeque, live music and readings of Thurber stories. Guests will be storyteller Lyn Ford and author and paranormal researcher James A. Willis.
A walking tour will visit the Thurber family gravesite and the iconic statue of their infamous Airedale terrier, Muggs.”*
*Muggs was “The Dog That Bit People” (an excerpt here) found in Thurber’s classic My Life and Hard Times.
Below: Muggs
…and Muggs by Thurber:
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James Thurber’s A-Z Entry:
James Thurber Born, Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1894. Died 1961, New York City. New Yorker work: 1927 -1961, with several pieces run posthumously. According to the New Yorker’s legendary editor, William Shawn, “In the early days, a small company of writers, artists, and editors — E.B. White, James Thurber, Peter Arno, and Katharine White among them — did more to make the magazine what it is than can be measured.”
Key cartoon collection: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments (Harper & Bros., 1932). Key anthology (writings & drawings): The Thurber Carnival (Harper & Row, 1945). There have been a number of Thurber biographies. Burton Bernstein’s Thurber (Dodd, Mead, 1975) and Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times (Henry Holt & Co., 1995) are essential. Website