Lloyd Alexander, Writer of Fantasy
Lloyd Alexander (1924-2007) was a writer of fantasy fiction and other stories for children. He is most well-known for The Chronicles of Prydain series, and especially, The Black Cauldron.
He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1924. His parents never read books but did read the newspaper. Alexander, on the other hand, read everything he could get his hands on. He had a special love for King Arthur, Dickens, Shakespeare, and Mark Twain. His favorite writers felt like personal friends. His parents weren’t thrilled that he wanted to be a writer, but he ended up becoming very successful despite their doubts.
Harold B. Lee Library
After Alexander had become an established, award-winning writer, he became friends with a professor and a researcher at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. Because of these friendships, he decided to donate his papers and office contents to BYU.
The Lloyd Alexander papers are housed in the Harold B Lee Library (2060 Lee Lane at BYU) and available for public research. BYU is also home to the exhibit, Alexander’s Box. Alexander’s Box is what the author used to call his office. The exhibit recreates the office, where he did his writing, with Lloyd Alexander’s actual office furniture and contents.
“We don’t need to have just one favorite. We keep adding favorites. Our favorite book is always the book that speaks most directly to us at a particular stage in our lives. And our lives change. We have other favorites that give us what we most need at that particular time. But we never lose the old favorites. They’re always with us. We just sort of accumulate them.” — Lloyd Alexander
The Harold B. Lee Library is the second stop on our Utah Author Adventures Trail.
Rebecca Blake Beech
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