Bayou Writer Bio, Lyle Chambers Saxon

June 21, 1:48 PMNew Orleans Literature ExaminerNordette Adams

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Name: Lyle Chambers Saxon 

Birthdate: September 4, 1891 

Death: April 9, 1946

Birthplace: Appears to be Baton Rouge, La.

Current Residence: He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge

Marital Status: Never married.

Personal Tag Line: "Mr. New Orleans"

Genres: Historical nonfiction, city guides, short fiction, and a novel.

First Book: Father Mississippi (1927)

Reason behind Writing: Saxon is remembered more as an editor, who worked for a time at the New Orleans daily paper, The Times Picayune, and was known as a friend to writers such as Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Sherwood Anderson. He is even more well known as an advocate for historic preservation in the City of New Orleans. Saxon was a novelist, journalist, and historian who headed the Louisiana Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s.

It's unsurprising that he became a writer since he came from a family of writers and book lovers. According to sources, both his his mother and father were journalists as well as his paternal grandmother. His paternal grandmother was also a poet, and his maternal grandmother owned the first bookstore in Baton Rouge.

Intriguing Quote:

"I--as a man--am also a lover. I shall try to tell you of the woman to whom I offer my love . . . this woman, New Orleans." (from his bio at GLBTQ)

Three of his Book Titles: Fabulous New Orleans (1928), Lafitte the Pirate (1930), the novel Children of Strangers (1937)

Collaboration: He contributed and compiled Gumbo Ya-Ya, an acclaimed book of Louisiana folk tales.

Education: He attended Louisiana State University, but did not graduate, leaving the school with only one course to finish.

Did you know? The 1938 New Orleans City Guide was written mostly by Saxon and has recently been retypeset and reprinted. According to a an AP story, Tulane historian Lawrence N. Powell said, "You can still follow one of its tours and not feel so much as three minutes behind the times." The New Orleans City Guide was produced under the Louisiana Federal Writers' Project.

Website? Bio at Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture.

Lagniappe Links: Lyle Saxon by James W. Thomas   ||  New Life for WPA New Orleans City Guide, 1938

Video: The following video does not feature Saxon, but it is from his era, New Orleans Mardis Gras 1941.