Meet…author Louisa May Alcott

What should you know about Louisa May Alcott?

Louisa May Alcott is one of the most prolific female writers in the 19th century. She published more than 30 books and collections. Born in Germantown, PA in 1832, she always had a passion to write and a flair for drama. As a child, she wrote stories for her and her sisters to perform. As a young adult, she published poetry and short fiction in magazines, but it was the novel Little Women that sealed her place in literary history.

Assigned by her publisher to write a book for girls, Alcott broke the mold of children's fiction with the headstrong and independent Jo March. The book has been filmed numerous times with such actresses as Katherine Hepburn, June Allyson and Wynona Ryder in the role of Jo.

Like her mother, she was committed to many social issues, including the abolition of slavery and equality for women, and through her books and characters became an inspiration to young women for generations. However, her strongest commitment was to her family. After her father's attempt at an Utopian community, Fruitlands, failed, leaving the family impoverished, Alcott vowed at age 15 she would do anything to help her family and worked as a teacher, governess, house servant and other positions for many years. She also wrote what she referred to as "rubbish novels" anonymously or under the pen names A.N. Barnard and Flora Fairfield to add to the family income.

Who were Alcott's greatest influences?


Her parents - Bronson, a philosopher and teacher and Abigail, a feminist and social reformer - were naturally her first influences. She spent her childhood in the company of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. She also was a fan of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the Brontë sisters. Her first book, Flower Fables, was a collection of stories for Emerson's daughter, Ellen.

Alcott drew from her own life for a lot of her work. Hospital Sketches was adapted from letters she wrote during her time as a nurse during the Civil War. Work: A Story of Experience tells of her experiences as a house servant. And of course, she retooled her own family into the March family in Little Women.

How long did Alcott publish?


Her first book, Flower Fables, was published in 1854. She was 22. Her last book was published in 1996. (That's not a typo.) A Long Fatal Love Chase was thought to be too scandalous in post-Civil War America. It was originally written for serialization in a magazine. The story of obsession and deception was not published in book form until 108 years after her death. A Garland for Girls was the last book published in her lifetime. Alcott died in 1888, two days after her father.

Many of Alcott's books can be found on Alibris and on Amazon, but not in great numbers on Amazon. Alcott's work has been a favorite of Hollywood since the silent movie days. In addition to many incarnations of Little Women, Little Men, The Inheritance, Primavera, Onawandah and An Old Fashioned Girl made it to film or t.v.




Sources: Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association, Online Literature Network, Pegasos, The Dictionary of Unitarian and Univeralist Biography