One of the most neglected American writers and also one of the best loved,NELSON ALGRENwrote once that "literature is made upon any occasion that a challenge is put to the legal apparatus by conscience in touch with humanity." His writings always lived up to that definition. He was born on March 28, 1909, in Detroit and lived mostly in Chicago. His first short fiction was published inStorymagazine in 1933. In 1935 he published his first novel,Somebody in Boots. In early 1942, Algren put the finishing touches on a second novel and joined the war as an enlisted man. By 1945, he still had not made the grade of Private first class, but the novelNever Come Morningwas widely praised and eventually sold over a million copies. Jean-Paul Sartre translated the French-language edition. In 1947 cameThe Neon Wilderness, his famous short story collection which would permanently establish his place in American letters.The Man with the Golden Arm, generally considered Algren's most important novel, appeared in 1949 and became the first winner of the National Book Award for Fiction in March 1950. Then cameChicago- City on the Make(1951), a prose poem, andA Walk on the Wild Side(1956), a rewrite ofSomebody in Boots.Algren also published two travel books,Who Lost an American?andNotes from a Sea Voyage.The Last Carousel, a collection of short fiction and nonfiction, appeared in 1973. He died on May 9, 1981, within days of his appointment as a fellow of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. His last novel,The Devil's Stocking, based on the life of Hurricane Carter, andNonconformity- Writing on Writing, a 1952 essay on the art of writing, were published posthumously in 1983 and 1996 respectively. In 2009 cameEntrapment and Other Writings, a major collection of previously unpublished writings that included two early short story masterpieces, "Forgive Them, Lord," and "The Lightless Room," and the long unfinished novel fragment referenced in the book's title. In 2019, Blackstone Audio released the complete library of Algren's books as audiobooks. And in 2020 Olive Films releasedNelson Algren Live, a performance film of Algren's life and work starring Willem Dafoe and Barry Gifford, among others, produced by the Seven Stories Institute.