William Zinsser facts for kids

William Knowlton Zinsser (October 7, 1922 – May 12, 2015) was a well-known American writer, editor, and teacher. He started his career as a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune newspaper. There, he wrote many different kinds of articles, including about movies and plays. He also wrote for many popular magazines for a long time.

Early Life and Education

William Zinsser went to Buckley Country Day School and Deerfield Academy. He then studied at Princeton University. He married Carolyn Fraser Zinsser, and they had two children. One of their children, John Zinsser, became a painter. The Zinssers lived in New York City and in Niantic, Connecticut.

His Work and Books

Zinsser taught writing at Yale University. He was also in charge of Branford College at Yale from 1973 to 1979. Later, he worked as an executive editor for the Book-of-the-Month Club. He also taught at The New School and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He stopped teaching because of an eye condition called glaucoma.

He wrote 18 books. His most famous book is On Writing Well, which has been printed many times. Other books include Writing to Learn and Writing About Your Life. He also wrote his own story in a book called Writing Places. William Zinsser often wrote short essays about writing and art for The American Scholar website.

In his books, Zinsser taught that good writing should be "economical." This means using as few words as possible to make your point clear. Writer James J. Kilpatrick said that On Writing Well was the best book on how to write. Zinsser believed that writing gets better when you remove unnecessary words.

He also told people who wanted to write about their own lives to believe their stories were special. He said that success means "doing what you want to do and doing it well."

In 1963, Zinsser interviewed the famous filmmaker Woody Allen. Years later, in 1980, Woody Allen asked Zinsser to act in his movie Stardust Memories. Zinsser played a small role as a priest in the film.

Later Years

William Zinsser passed away in Manhattan on May 12, 2015. He was 92 years old.