John Sanford (writer)

Julian Shapiro
BornJulian Lawrence Shapiro
May 31, 1904
Harlem
DiedMarch 6, 2003
Montecito, California
Pen nameJohn Sanford, John B. Sanford
Notable worksThe Old Man's Place, The People From Heaven
SpouseMarguerite Roberts
Website
psych.fullerton.edu/jmearns/sanford.htm

John Sanford or John B. Sanford, born Julian Lawrence Shapiro (May 31, 1904 – March 6, 2003),[1] was an American screenwriter and prose writer who wrote 24 books. The Cambridge Companion to Jewish American Literature describes him as, "Perhaps the most outstanding neglected novelist."[2] A one-time member of the Communist Party, after he and his wife Marguerite Roberts refused to testify to the House Un-American Activities Committee, they were blacklisted and unable to work in Hollywood for nearly a decade.

Sanford wrote half of his books after he was 80. He published a 5-volume autobiography, for which he received a PEN/Faulkner Award and the Los Angeles Times Lifetime Achievement Award. He left three unpublished novels and was writing up until a month before his death at 98.

  1. ^ "John Sanford, 98, Novelist and Memoirist". The New York Times. 17 March 2003. p. B 7. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  2. ^ Hana Wirth-Nesher; Michael P. Kramer (1 June 2003). The Cambridge Companion to Jewish American literature. Cambridge University Press. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-521-79699-6.