Kay Boyle was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1902, and grew up in Cincinnati and Europe. She attended Columbia University and lived in Europe in the 1920's and 1930's as part of the lost generation of American ex-patriate writers. She was a noted author of more than four dozen books including novels, poetry, short stories and essays. Her short stories and novels usually deal with contemporary issues, often concerning characters caught up in powerful political or social forces, such as the rise of Nazism in Europe. Boyle's poetry and short stories appeared in such magazines as Harper's and the New Yorker.
She won the O. Henry prize for best short story of the year, in 1934 for The White Horses of Vienna and in 1941 for Defeat . From 1963 until 1979 she taught literature and creative writing at San Francisco University. Boyle had a great commitment to social justice and was active in political affairs for most of her life. She helped raise funds for the families of conscientious objectors during World War I and protested U. S. involvement in Vietnam. She was also instrumental in starting an Amnesty International chapter in San Francisco, and her annual birthday party was a fund raiser for that organization. Even in extreme old age she continued to write letters supporting social causes or political candidates.
Her marriages to Richard Brault and Laurence Vail both ended in divorce. Her third husband was Baron Joseph von Franckenstein, an Austrian diplomat, whom she married in 1943. He worked for the U.S. Department of State but was deprived of his job during the McCarthy era. Ms. Boyle also lost her position as European correspondent for the New Yorker during that time after being falsely accused of Fascist sympathies. She spent years of poverty and hardship trying to clear her husband's name. He died in 1963. Ms. Boyle had five children by Laurence Vail and Baron von Franckenstein. In her old age, her son Ian Franckenstein cared for her. She died in 1992 at the age of 90.
From the guide to the Kay Boyle Papers, R 2. 1., 1910-1992 and undated, (Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University)
