Zona Gale, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1874)
Zona Gale, also known by her married name, Zona Gale Breese (August 26, 1874 – December 27, 1938), was an American novelist, short story writer, and playwright. She became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1921. The close relationship she had with her parents set the tone for her writing and her personal life. Her books based upon her home town were found to be charming and had an intimate sense of realism, in which she captures the underlying feelings and motivations of her characters. All of her works were written under her maiden name, Zona Gale.
She became a single parent when she adopted a girl. Her parents died in 1923 and 1929. After her parents died, she became interested in mysticism, which changed her writing style, to the chagrin of the critics who had enjoyed her previous work. She was unmarried until she was in her fifties, when she married a childhood friend who was a widower. She supported political and social causes, like women's rights, pacifism, and education.