James A. Michener

James A. Michener (February 3, 1907 - October 16, 1997) was a multiple award-winning American writer. He is especially remembered for his expansive narrative sagas and his prolificacy. He underpinned his engaging narrative with social commentary, exploring class, race and ethnic difference. His novels were characterised by extensive research into the subjects.

There have been many adaptations of Michener’s works, many of which went on to be iconic in different genres from the one Michener was famous for. South Pacific, Hotel, and Shogun are examples.

Michener’s nonfiction is less well known, but he wrote the text for five art books as well as many articles.

Michener was an adopted child; his mother, Mabel Michener, was a Quaker woman of modest means. She is credited with having instilled a love of learning in her son, and young James became an excellent student. He also travelled extensively, first as a teenager hitchhiking across the USA, and, as an adult, visiting countries all around the world, learning firsthand about people and cultures which would feature in his writing.

Mitchener received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Presidental Medal of Freedom.