Janet Flanner, 1892-1978

Location: 4061 N. Illinois St., Indianapolis (Marion), 46208

Installed 2023 Indiana Historical Bureau and Flanner Buchanan Funeral Centers

ID#: 49.2022.6

Text

Side One

Writer Janet Flanner lived in this neighborhood and graduated from Tudor Hall School for Girls in 1909. She led the local branch of the Woman’s Franchise League in 1917 and wrote an arts column for the Indianapolis Star, becoming a pioneer movie critic. Flanner moved abroad and launched her column “Letter from Paris” for the New Yorker under the penname Genêt in 1925.

Side Two

In Paris, Flanner was part of an expatriate community that included other notable lesbian writers as well as internationally recognized artists and intellectuals. By the 1930s, she was lauded for her sharp, refined, and witty New Yorker profiles. In 1966, she won the National Book Award for Paris Journal: 1944-1965. She wrote her last “Letter from Paris” in 1975.

Annotated Text

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Keywords

Newspaper & Media; Women; Arts & Culture