At what point does an writer become an author? Deirdre Bair started out as a journalist and went from never having read a biography in her life to becoming a biographer herself. And it is with great remorse, I share that Dierdre Bair died on April 17, 2020 due to heart failure.
Deirdre’s graduate thesis was about Samuel Beckett, and some few years after writing about him she took a risk and began writing to him instead. The risk paid off as Beckett agreed to cooperate with Bair as she wrote a biography about him. Her perseverance and talents led her to travel between the United States and Paris to interview him. Due to her efforts she won the National Book Award in 1981 for Samuel Beckett: A Biography. After winning the award, she went on to write more biographies. Her subjects included: writer Simone de Beauvoir, psychiatrist Carl Jung, writer Anais Nin, illustrator Saul Steinberg, illustrator, and gangster Al Capone.
Her last published book is a “bio-memoir” called Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simon de Beauvoir, and Me (2019). Her next project was to have been about T.S. Elliot.
In a time when the publishing industry was generally dominated by men, Bair was able her make an important impact with her work. And her impact extended beyond the books she wrote. Bair was a member of the WNBA-NYC Chapter for many years and served on several panels including our organization’s Centennial Celebration held in 2017 in New York. Many members have fond memories of her.
Do you have any memories of Deirdre? Share them below.
You can read more about Deirdre in this interview the WNBA conducted with her several years ago.
