| Dare Wright | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 3, 1914 Thornhill, Ontario |
| Died | January 25, 2001 (aged 86) Manhattan, New York |
| Occupation | Photographer, author, model |
| Nationality | Canadian American |
| Period | 1957-1981 |
| Genres | Children's literature |
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www.darewright.com |
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Dare Wright (December 3, 1914 – January 25, 2001) was a Canadian American children's author, model and photographer.
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Born in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada, Wright spent most of her childhood in Cleveland, Ohio. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she was raised by her mother, the portrait artist Edith Stevenson Wright, while her brother, Blaine, went to live with his father, Ivan Wright, a theater critic in New York City. The siblings did not meet again until Dare moved to New York City in her twenties.
Wright's mother died in 1975 and her brother in 1985.[1]
After that she withdrew into seclusion and alcoholism in her apartment just off Fifth Avenue.[2] Wright died on January 25, 2001 at the age of 86 in Manhattan.[3] She had been admitted to Goldwater Memorial Hospital on Roosevelt Island in May 1995 after suffering respiratory failure and being placed on a ventilator.
In 1957, she photographed her childhood Lenci doll, Edith, along with two teddy bears bought at FAO Schwarz, for her first children's book, titled The Lonely Doll. The book made The New York Times Best Seller list for children's books. In November 2010, The British Newspaper The Guardian named The Lonely Doll one of the 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books of all time.[4] It was followed by eighteen other stories. Out of print for many years, it was reissued in 1998, introducing Wright to a new generation of readers. Make Me Real, which features another of Wright's childhood dolls, and Ocracoke in The Fifties, her only book written for adults, have been published posthumously.
Dare Wright's photographs were first exhibited in 2011 by Fred Torres Collaborations.