Home > Facts > Authors Facts > Louisa May Alcott Facts

Louisa May Alcott Facts

Louisa May Alcott Facts
Louisa May Alcott was an American writer best known for her novel Little Women. She was born on November 29th, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, to Amos Bronson, an educator, and Abby May, a social worker. She had two younger sisters Elizabeth and Abigail, and one older sister Anna. In 1838 her family moved to Boston and then to Concord, Massachusetts. Louisa was educated mostly by her father, but due to financial troubles she had to begin working when she was young. The first book Louisa wrote was for Ralph Waldo Emerson's daughter Ellen. It was a collection of short stories titled Flower Fables and was published in 1849.
Interesting Louisa May Alcott Facts:
Louisa May Alcott was educated by her father, and friends of the family including Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller.
Louisa May Alcott worked as a domestic helper, governess, seamstress, teacher, and as a writer to help her family make ends meet while she was young.
Louisa May Alcott went to Washington, D.C. to work as a nurse during the Civil War.
Louisa May Alcott published most of her early work under the pen name Flora Fairfield.
In 1962 Louisa May Alcott began to publish under the name A.M. Barnard.
Louisa May Alcott began to use her own name when she began being published in Atlantic Monthly and Lady's Companion. She went on to edit the girls' magazine Merry's Museum after a trip to Europe in 1865.
Little Women was published in 1868 and brought Louisa May Alcott great financial success. Little Women was a semi-autobiographical novel about her and her sisters' childhoods.
The novel Little Women was followed by three more in the series including Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871), and Jo's Boys (1886).
Louisa May Alcott never married, although the character Jo, based on her, did marry in the Little Women series.
Louisa May Alcott wrote many novels during her lifetime including The Inheritance (1849), Moods (1865), The Mysterious Key and What It Opened (1867), An Old Fashioned Girl (1870), Will's Wonder Book (1870), Work: A Story of Experience (1873), Eight Cousins (1875), Rose in Bloom (1876), Under the Lilacs (1878), and Jack and Jill: A Village Story (1880).
Under the pen name A.M. Barnard Louisa May Alcott published Behind a Mask (1866), The Abbot's Ghost (1867), and A Long Fatal Love Chase (1866).
Some of Louisa's works were not published until many years after her death including The Inheritance which was written in 1849 and published in 1997, and A Long Fatal Love Chase which was written in 1866 and published in 1995.
Louisa May Alcott wrote many books for children including the series Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag which contained 66 short stories in 6 volumes.
Louisa May Alcott wrote some books for adults as well, such as Work (1873), and A Modern Mephistopheles (1877), but they never became as popular as the writing she did for children and young adults.
Louisa May Alcott died of a stroke on March 6th, 1888, at the age of only 55. Her father had died two days before.


Related Links:
Facts
Authors Facts
Animals Facts
Literature
Literature Summary
Literature Quizzes