Shirley Jackson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Shirley Jackson
Jackson in 1940
Born	Shirley Hardie Jackson (1916-12-14)December 14, 1916 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	August 8, 1965(1965-08-08) (aged 48) North Bennington, Vermont, U.S.
Occupation	Writer
Education	University of Rochester Syracuse University (BA)
Genre	Horror mystery gothic
Years active	1943–1965
Notable works	"The Lottery" Life Among the Savages The Haunting of Hill House We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Spouse	Stanley Edgar Hyman ​ (m. 1940)​
Children	4
Signature

Shirley Hardie Jackson (born December 14, 1916 – died August 8, 1965) was an American writer. She is best known for her exciting and sometimes scary stories. She wrote many books and short stories during her career, which lasted over 20 years. She wrote six novels, two memoirs (books about her own life), and more than 200 short stories.

Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco, California. She went to Syracuse University in New York. There, she joined the university's writing magazine. This is where she met her future husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman. After college, they moved to New York and started writing for The New Yorker magazine. Shirley wrote fiction, and Stanley wrote for the "Talk of the Town" section. In 1945, they moved to North Bennington, Vermont, after their first child was born. Stanley became a teacher at Bennington College.

Shirley Jackson became very famous after publishing her first novel, The Road Through the Wall (1948). This book was partly about her own childhood. Even more attention came from her short story "The Lottery". This story showed a dark side to a seemingly peaceful American village. She kept writing many short stories in the 1950s. Some of these stories were put into her 1953 memoir, Life Among the Savages. In 1959, she published The Haunting of Hill House. This is a supernatural horror novel that many people think is one of the best ghost stories ever. Her 1962 novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, is a mystery story. Many consider it her best work.

By the 1960s, Shirley Jackson's health began to get worse. She sadly passed away in 1965 at age 48 due to a heart condition.

Shirley Jackson's Early Life and Education

Shirley Jackson was born on December 14, 1916, in San Francisco, California. Her parents were Leslie and Geraldine Jackson. She grew up in Burlingame, California, which is a nice area near San Francisco.

Shirley often found it hard to fit in with other kids. She spent a lot of her time writing stories. She played the violin in the school orchestra at Burlingame High School. Later, her family moved to Rochester, New York. She finished high school there in 1934. She then went to the University of Rochester. Shirley was not happy with her classes there. She took a break from school before moving to Syracuse University. At Syracuse, she really enjoyed her studies and social life. She earned her degree in journalism. While at Syracuse, the university's writing magazine published her first story, "Janice." This is also where she met her future husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman.

Shirley Jackson's Family Life and Career

After finishing college, Shirley Jackson and Stanley Hyman got married in 1940. They lived in different places for a short time. Eventually, they settled in North Bennington, Vermont. Stanley became a teacher at Bennington College. Shirley started writing a lot as Stanley began his career as a literary critic.

Shirley and Stanley were known for being friendly hosts. They often had other writers visit their home, including Ralph Ellison. They both loved to read and had a huge library with about 25,000 books! They had four children: Laurence, Joanne, Sarah, and Barry. These children even appeared as characters in their mother's short stories. Shirley Jackson became the main person earning money for the family. This was unusual at a time when many women were not expected to work outside the home. She managed to do this while also raising her four children.

Shirley Jackson's Famous Stories and Books

The Lottery: A Shocking Short Story

In 1948, Shirley Jackson published her first novel, The Road Through the Wall. It was partly based on her own childhood in California in the 1920s. But her most famous story, "The Lottery", made her very well-known. It was published in The New Yorker on June 26, 1948. This story showed her talent for writing scary tales. "The Lottery" caused a big stir. The magazine received over 300 letters from readers, many of whom were upset by the story's dark message.

Critics loved the story, and it quickly became a classic. It was put into many story collections and even made into a TV show in 1952. In 1949, "The Lottery" was the title story of a collection of her short stories.

More Novels and Real-Life Inspiration

Shirley Jackson's second novel, Hangsaman (1951), had parts that seemed like a real-life mystery. This was the disappearance of a college student named Paula Jean Welden in 1946. This event happened near Bennington, where Jackson lived. The college in Hangsaman was partly based on Jackson's experiences at Bennington College. This real mystery also inspired her short story "The Missing Girl."

The next year, she published Life Among the Savages. This book was a collection of short stories about her own life with her four children. Many of these stories had been printed before in popular magazines like Good Housekeeping and Woman's Day. These stories were funny and true-to-life tales about being a housewife and raising children.

Shirley Jackson didn't like to talk about her work in public. She believed her books should speak for themselves. She was known for being smart and witty. For example, when people were confused by "The Lottery," she joked that many readers expected the main character to win a washing machine!

The Haunting of Hill House and Other Works

In 1954, Jackson published The Bird's Nest. This book was about a woman with multiple personalities. Her publisher thought it was a perfect novel. Her next novel, The Sundial, came out four years later. It was about a rich family who believed they were chosen to survive the end of the world. She also wrote two memoirs, Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons.

Shirley Jackson's fifth novel, The Haunting of Hill House (1959), is about a group of people studying strange events in a supposedly haunted house. This novel mixed supernatural events with human psychology. It became a very famous haunted house story. The famous author Stephen King called it one of the most important horror novels of the 20th century. Also in 1959, Jackson wrote a children's musical called The Bad Children, based on the story of Hansel and Gretel.

Shirley Jackson's Later Years and Passing

By the time The Haunting of Hill House was published, Shirley Jackson was having many health problems. She smoked a lot, which led to breathing issues, joint pain, and feeling very tired. She also had dizzy spells that were linked to a heart problem. Towards the end of her life, she saw a doctor for severe anxiety. This anxiety sometimes made her unable to leave her house.

Even with her health issues, Shirley Jackson kept writing. She published several works in the 1960s. Her last novel was We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962). This Gothic mystery novel was named one of the "Ten Best Novels" of 1962 by Time magazine. The next year, she published Nine Magic Wishes, a children's book with pictures. It was about a child who meets a magician and gets many wonderful wishes.

Shirley Jackson passed away in her sleep at her home in North Bennington in 1965. She was 48 years old. Her death was caused by a heart condition.

Shirley Jackson's Works Published After Her Death

After Shirley Jackson passed away, her husband released a collection of her work in 1968 called Come Along with Me. This book included a novel she hadn't finished, 14 short stories that hadn't been collected before, and three talks she gave.

In 1996, a box of her unpublished stories was found in a barn behind her house. Some of these stories, along with others from magazines, were published in the 1996 book Just an Ordinary Day. The title came from one of her stories.

Shirley Jackson's writings are kept safe in the Library of Congress. In 2013, The New Yorker magazine published a story called "Paranoia" that was found there. In 2015, a collection of her new stories and essays, Let Me Tell You, was released. In December 2020, another short story, "Adventure on a Bad Night," was published for the first time in The Strand Magazine.

Movies and Shows Based on Shirley Jackson's Stories

Many of Shirley Jackson's stories have been made into movies, TV shows, and plays.

• "The Lottery" has been adapted for radio, TV, theater, and film three times. A short film made in 1969 was very popular in schools.
• The Bird's Nest was made into the movie Lizzie in 1957.
• In 1963, The Haunting of Hill House became the film The Haunting, directed by Robert Wise.
• Her 1962 novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, was made into a play in the 1960s.
• In 1982, her unfinished novel Come Along with Me was adapted for TV.
• The Haunting of Hill House was made into another movie in 1999, called The Haunting.
• In 2010, We Have Always Lived in the Castle was adapted into a musical.
• A major movie version of We Have Always Lived in the Castle came out in 2018. Shirley Jackson's son helped produce it.
• In 2018, Netflix created The Haunting of Hill House, a ten-episode horror series based on her 1959 novel.
• In 2018, a film based on her short story "The Lottery" also began development.

Awards and Honors for Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson received many awards and honors for her writing:

• 1944 – Her story "Come Dance with Me in Ireland" was in Best American Short Stories.
• 1949 – Her story "The Lottery" won an O. Henry Prize.
• 1959 – The Haunting of Hill House was named one of the "Best Fiction of 1959" by New York Times Book Review.
• 1960 – The Haunting of Hill House was nominated for a National Book Award.
• 1962 – We Have Always Lived in the Castle was on Time magazine's "Ten Best Novels" list.
• 1966 – Her story "The Possibility of Evil" won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short Story.
• 2007 – The Shirley Jackson Award was created to honor her. These awards celebrate great writing in psychological suspense, horror, and dark fantasy.

Shirley Jackson's Lasting Impact

The Shirley Jackson Award

The Shirley Jackson Awards were started in 2007. They honor Shirley Jackson's important place in literature. These awards celebrate amazing achievements in psychological suspense, horror, and dark fantasy writing. The awards are given out at a special event called Readercon.

Books and Films About Shirley Jackson

In 2014, Susan Scarf Merrell wrote a popular thriller called Shirley: A Novel. It was about Jackson, her husband, and a fictional couple. In 2020, this novel was made into a movie, also called Shirley.

In 2016, journalist Ruth Franklin published a biography called Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life. This book won several awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Celebrating Shirley Jackson's Legacy

Since 2015, Shirley Jackson's hometown of North Bennington has celebrated "Shirley Jackson Day" on June 27. This is the day the fictional story "The Lottery" takes place.

Many famous authors have said that Shirley Jackson influenced their work. These include Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and Joanne Harris.

What Critics Say About Her Work

Many books and studies have been written about Shirley Jackson's life and work. Critics have looked closely at her short stories and novels.

Some critics believe Shirley Jackson's work is very important. They say her stories show a deep understanding of the world during the Cold War era. Her husband said she was proud that "The Lottery" was banned in South Africa. He felt it meant they understood the story's message.

In the 1980s, many scholars became very interested in Jackson's work. Some saw her stories as comments on social issues. Others looked at her work through a feminist lens.

Shirley Jackson's Books

Novels

• The Road Through the Wall (1948)
• Hangsaman (1951)
• The Bird's Nest (1954)
• The Sundial (1958)
• The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)

Short Story Collections

• The Lottery and Other Stories (1949)
• The Magic of Shirley Jackson (1966)
• Come Along with Me (1968)
• Just an Ordinary Day (1996)
• Shirley Jackson: Novels & Stories (2010)
• Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings (2015)
• Dark Tales (2016)

Children's Books

• The Witchcraft of Salem Village (1956)
• The Bad Children: A Play in One Act for Bad Children (1958)
• Nine Magic Wishes (1963)
• Famous Sally (1966)

Memoirs (Stories from Her Life)

• Life Among the Savages: An Uneasy Chronicle (1953)
• Raising Demons (1957)
• Special Delivery: A Useful Book for Brand-New Mothers (1960)

Images for kids

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  Shirley Jackson's signature

See also

In Spanish: Shirley Jackson para niños