ABOUT THE AUTHOR

You may know the author of the Nancy Drew series as Carolyn Keene but that is not her real name. Her real name is actually Mildred Wilt Benson. Carolyn Keene was just a pen-name used by Mildred. Mildred was born on July 10th in 1905 (6\10\05) and died on May 28 of 2002 (5\28\02). Her place of birth was in Ladora, Iowa. But she didn't live there for her whole life. She lived in Toledo, Ohio. Her birth name was Mildred Augustine and her nickname was Millie. She is also known as Frances Judd, Dorothey West and Helen Lousie Thorndyke. She is known most famously as the original Carolyn Keene, the author of the first 23 out of 30 Nancy Drew stories. Mildred was the first woman and student to graduate with a masters in journalism from the University of Iowa, then the State University of Iowa. She retired in 2001 after 60 years of journalism and scaled back her writing to a monthly column in the Toledo Blade.

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