Kenneth Roberts (author)
| Kenneth Roberts | |
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| Born | Kenneth Lewis Roberts December 8, 1885 Kennebunk, Maine, US |
| Died | July 21, 1957 (aged 71) Kennebunkport, Maine |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Cornell University |
| Period | 1929-1957 |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Notable works | Northwest Passage |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize Special Citation |
| Spouse | Anna |
Kenneth Lewis Roberts (December 8, 1885 – July 21, 1957) was an American author of historical novels. Roberts worked first as a journalist, becoming nationally known for his work with the Saturday Evening Post from 1919 to 1928, and then as a popular novelist. Born in Kennebunk, Maine, Roberts specialized in Regionalist historical fiction. He often wrote about his native state and its terrain, also depicting other upper New England states and scenes. For example, the main characters of Arundel and Rabble in Arms are from Kennebunkport (then called Arundel), the main character of Northwest Passage is depicted as being from Kittery, Maine with friends in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the main character in Oliver Wiswell is from Milton, Massachusetts.
Roberts graduated in 1908 from Cornell University, where he wrote the lyrics for two Cornell fight songs, including Fight for Cornell. He was also a member of the Quill and Dagger society. He was later awarded honorary doctorates from three New England colleges: Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, Colby College in Maine and Middlebury College in Vermont.
After graduation, Roberts spent eight years working as a newspaperman for the Boston Post. In 1917, he enlisted in the American army for World War I, but he ended up as a lieutenant in the intelligence section of the American Expeditionary Force Siberia in the Russian Civil War instead of at the front in Europe. The contacts that he made in that role enabled him to become a European correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post after the war, where he became the first American journalist to cover the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, Adolf Hitler's first attempt to take power. Roberts described working for the Post's legendary editor George Horace Lorimer as follows: "I told him my ideas, which he instantly rejected or accepted ... The price to be paid for a story was never discussed, and Lorimer was always generous."
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