James Grover Thurber

Thurber was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1894. His father, Charles Leander Thurber, was a minor politician and his mother was a strong-minded woman with a great sense of humor. In his youth, Thurber was partially blinded when his brother, William, shot him in the eye with an arrow. Because of this disability Thurber was unable to participate in many school sports and did not have very many friends. This prompted him to create wild fantasy realms for entertainment. These fantasies later served as a basis for his work. He began writing in high school.

Thurber did not serve in World War I, but studied between 1913 and 1918 at the Ohio State University. He went on to work as a code clerk and as a secretary at the United States Embassy in Paris. In the early twenties Thurber worked as a journalist for several newspapers and magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post in 1926. Thurber joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927. Thurber's first book, Is Sex Necessary, was published in 1929.

By the 1950's Thurber was almost completely blind but, despite his blindness, he was still an active writer and even played himself in 88 performances of A Thurber Carnival. Thurber's character Walter Mitty, from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, was the namesake for a condition matching the character's behavior in the story. In addition to his writing, Thurber was also a respected cartoonist and humorist.