Close up of Nevada Writers Hall of Fame medal

Barbara Land

1996 Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Inductee

Summary

Free-lance author Barbara Land was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She graduated from the University of Miami in 1944 and obtained a master's degree from Columbia University in 1946. She worked as a reporter for the Miami Herald from 1940-1947 and then was a reporter for Life magazine in New York City from 1948-1949. She worked in advertising for Cunningham & Walsh, Inc., in New York City before becoming a fashion reporter for the New York Times in 1955. While with the New York Times, she also wrote the "Housewives' Pulse" column. She married Myrick Land in 1949 and co-wrote several nonfiction books about Nevada with him. She has also written nonfiction books for children. She received a Pulitzer travel scholarship in 1946 and a Sloan-Rockefeller fellowship for the advanced science writing program in 1959. From 1969-1972, she worked as a reader and editor for the Book-of-the-Month Club in New York City. After tutoring in journalism at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia from 1973-1975, she became a full-time writer. While living in Reno she was a freelance writer and the "Book People" columnist for the Reno Gazette-Journal.