About Louise Fitzhugh
Louise Perkins Fitzhugh (October 5, 1928 – November 19, 1974) was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Fitzhugh is best known for her 1964 novel Harriet The Spy, about an adolescent girl who to keeps a journal recording the foibles of her friends, classmates, and captivating strangers. The novel was later adapted into a live action film in 1996. The sequel novel, The Long Secret, was published in 1965, and its follow-up book, Sport, was published posthumously in 1979. Fitzhugh also wrote Nobody's Family Is Going to Change, which was later adapted into a short film and a Broadway musical. Fitzhugh died at age 46 from a brain aneurysm on November 19, 1974. == Early life and family == Louise Fitzhugh was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on October 5, 1928, as the only child of Louise and Millsaps Fitzhugh, a lawyer. Her father came from a wealthy family in Memphis, and she is a descendant of Reuben Millsaps, the founder of Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. He graduated from Emory University and met Louise Perkins, an aspiring tap dancer, in 1926 on a boat traveling from New York to England. They married, but his family disapproved of the marriage due to her lower social standing and they divorced after a year, shortly following Fitzhugh's birth in 1928.
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