Carolyn Keene is a pseudonym that has forever been associated with the famous Nancy Drew Mysteries. With the numerous writers that used that pseudonym, people often forget about the very first Carolyn Keene: author Mildred Benson. Mildred Benson wrote the first 23 books in the mystery series, giving life to the famous sleuth we know today. While Mildred became known for her work as an author, she had some interesting personal stories of her own. Here are five lesser-known facts about the first author.
1. She Was the First Student to Receive a Master’s in Journalism From the University of Iowa
As a current student at the University of Iowa, on track to obtain a bachelor’s in journalism, this was a delightful surprise for me! Benson obtained her Bachelor’s in English in 1925, graduating in just three years. While at the university, she worked for The Daily Iowan, the school’s newspaper, and as an editor for the Hawkeye Yearbook. She obtained her Master’s degree in 1927. In 1991, she was inducted into the journalism school’s Hall of Fame and received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the university in June 1994. Later that year, she was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame.
2. Carolyn Keene Was Not Her Only Pseudonym
Carolyn Keene was Mildred’s first famous pseudonym, but it was not her last. The list varies, but Mildred wrote under at least nine other pseudonyms, including Mildred A. Wirt, Frank Bell, Joan Clark, Julia K. Duncan, Alice B. Emerson, Frances K. Judd, Don Palmer, Helen Louise Thorndyke, Dorothy West, and Ann Wirt.
Carolyn Keene was a pseudonym penned by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a publishing company known for hiring ghostwriters and paying them a fee to write. The ghost writers were given a brief plot outline and chapter summaries of no more than two or three pages from which they wrote a full book. While working for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, Mildred wrote under the pseudonyms Carolyn Keene and Alice B. Emerson.
3. She Wrote Her First Short Story at 13…and Won Second Place for It
From a young age, Benson had always expressed a love for writing. A voracious reader, she loved Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. At the age of 13, she won second place for her short story, “The Courtesy,” which was then published in St. Nicholas, a children’s magazine that a young Alcott had once been published in alongside other famous authors.
4. She Had Real-Life Adventures That Would’ve Made Nancy Drew Proud
In addition to being a prolific writer, Benson was also an avid adventurer. She learned how to fly a plane and traveled to various places across the globe. While traveling, she encountered a group of criminals who locked her in a room, very reminiscent of Nancy Drew’s encounter in The Secret of the Old Clock. In recounting that adventure, Benson is quoted asking herself, “What would Nancy do?” and, in true Nancy fashion, freed herself and escaped.
5. She Was Writing the Day She Died
Benson’s love for writing knew no bounds. She started writing at the age of 13, and she was writing on the day of her death, May 28, 2002. Even though she had never smoked in her life, she had been diagnosed with lung cancer, causing her to cut back on her journalistic work. On the day of her death, she had been working on a column for the Toledo Blade. She submitted it and passed away a few hours later at the age of ninety-seven.
Mildred Benson was more than just a writer. She was an avid reader, an academic, and an adventurer. She was curious and determined, much like the famous Nancy Drew of her creation. While other authors wrote under the Carolyn Keene pseudonym, she will forever be known as the first, bringing us the iconic teenage female sleuth we know today.
For more about Carolyn Keene and the Nancy Drew mysteries, click here.
Carolyn Keene’s mysteries and more can be found on our Heart-Racingly Good Thrillers and Mysteries shelf at Bookshop.
