William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Falkner was Born September 25, 1897, in New Albany Mississippi. William Cuthbert Falkner changed his last name upon the publish of his first book to Faulkner. William’s father was the business manager of the University of Mississippi in the town of Oxford, and his mother was a literary woman who encouraged William and his three brothers to read. William was a good student, but lost interest in studies during high school. He dropped out in his sophomore year and did odd jobs while writing poetry. In 1918 his high school girlfriend, Estelle Oldham, married another man, and William left Mississippi. He joined the British Royal Flying Corps but World War I ended before he finished his training in Canada, and he returned to Mississippi. A neighbor gave money to William for the publication of his first book of poems, The Marble faun.
His first novel Soldiers' Pay was published two years later.
In 1929 Faulkner finally married Estelle Oldham Franklin. She had divorced h...