Picture of author.

Helene Hanff (1916–1997)

Autor(a) de 84, Charing Cross Road

28+ Works 10,125 Membros 502 Críticas 85 Favorited

About the Author

Séries

Obras por Helene Hanff

Associated Works

84 Charing Cross Road [1987 film] (1987) — Original book — 106 exemplares
The Library of Helene Hanff (1998) 16 exemplares

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Data de nascimento
1916-04-15
Data de falecimento
1997-04-09
Localização do túmulo
Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Glendale, New York, USA
Sexo
female
Nacionalidade
USA
Local de nascimento
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Local de falecimento
New York, New York, USA
Ocupações
publicist
playwright
magazine writer
author
screenwriter
autobiographer
Relações
Quiller-Couch, Arthur (literary guru)

Fatal error: Call to undefined function isLitsy() in /var/www/html/inc_magicDB.php on line 425
Helene Hanff was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her parents loved the theater and even during the Great Depression managed to find ways to get tickets to shows for the family. She grew up wanting to become a playwright. Her literary career began in 1938, when she won a competition for a fellowship from the Bureau of New Plays and moved to Manhattan. There she became a protégé of Theresa Helburn, a co-producer of the Theater Guild. However, although she wrote 20 plays through the 1940's, none were produced. She later described her struggles in a 1961 memoir, Underfoot in Show Business. She found a new career writing for television when production of the new medium was centered in New York City in the early 1950s. Among the TV dramas she wrote for were The Adventures of Ellery Queen. All the while, she continued to try to get one of her plays produced on Broadway. When the bulk of the TV industry moved to California, Hanff chose to remain in New York. She turned to writing for magazines and eventually to books. Her hugely popular epistolary work 84, Charing Cross Road, first published in 1970, chronicled her 20 years of correspondence with Frank Doel, the chief buyer for Marks & Co., a London bookshop. She became so involved in the lives of the shop's staff that she sent them food parcels during Britain's post-World War II shortages, and shared with them details of her life. A TV adaptation aired in Britain in 1975, a film version was made in 1987 starring Anne Bancroft, and a Broadway play was produced in 1982. Hanff wrote several other works, and put her obsession with Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch to use in a book called Q's Legacy (1985), which served as a prequel to 84 Charing Cross Road and also recounted the aftermath of her book The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (1973). Other books included Apple of My Eye (1977) and Letter from New York (1992), which reprinted the five-minute talks she gave each month on the BBC's Woman's Hour radio broadcasts between 1978 and 1984. Underfoot in Show Business was adapted as a stage play in 2008 and produced at the Devonshire Theatre in Eastbourne, UK.

Membros

Discussions

1916: Helene Hanff - Resources and General Discussion em Literary Centennials (Fevereiro 2016)

Críticas

Intriguing tale of books acquired and friendship and gifts across The Atlantic from NYC to London and back.

The author, erudite and offering intriguing advice, can also be annoying.
 
Assinalado
m.belljackson | 347 outras críticas | Mar 14, 2024 |
Funny and touching.
 
Assinalado
grandpahobo | 347 outras críticas | Mar 10, 2024 |
What a treat. Can't believe I never knew about this book before.
 
Assinalado
BethOwl | 347 outras críticas | Jan 24, 2024 |
About eight years ago, I read this epistolary memoir for a book group and absolutely loved it. Fast forward to January 2024, as I feel a book slump and low mood coming on. I came across an audio version of this wonderful short novel and think I enjoyed it even more the second time around.

New York author [author:Helene Hanff|58918], strikes up a correspondence with a Frank Doel, who works for Marks and Co, Booksellers in London. Hanff initially writes to inquire about specific used books. With her engaging and witty letters, she eventually develops a long distance friendship with not only Doel but also many of the employees who work in the bookshop. There are a lot of post WWII historical tidbits interspersed in the back and forth communications.

I was so glad to find out there is a follow-up book called The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, which I intend to read. It made me happy to know that Hanff did eventually get the opportunity to visit London and meet some of the booksellers she befriended through her letters.
… (mais)
½
 
Assinalado
Ann_R | 347 outras críticas | Jan 21, 2024 |

Listas

Prémios

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Estatísticas

Obras
28
Also by
2
Membros
10,125
Popularidade
#2,345
Avaliação
4.2
Críticas
502
ISBN
147
Línguas
14
Marcado como favorito
85

Tabelas & Gráficos