The Ghost of Black Hawk Island

August Derleth was born on February 24, 1909 in Sauk City, Wisconsin. He sold his first story to Weird Tales at the age of 16. He received a Bachelor's of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin. After college, he went to work for Fawcett Publications as an editor for Mystic Magazine.

In 1932, the first of his Sac Prairie stories was published in various local papers. In 1935, his first book, a collection of related novellas entitled Place of Hawks, was published. In 1937, his first Sac Prairie novel, Still is the Summer Night, was published. He was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 1938 to help him continue the Sac Prairie saga.

During his lifetime, he wrote more than 90 books including The Milwaukee Road, Still Small Voice, H.P.L.: A Memoir, Restless Is the River, The Hills Stand Watch, Sweet Genevieve, Evening in Spring, The Moon Tenders, The Captive Island, and Father Marquette and the Great River. He had upward of 3,000 works published in over 350 magazines including The Catholic World, The Yale Review, The New Republic, Redbook, The New Yorker, Good Housekeeping, and The American Mercury. He died on June 6, 1971.

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