Charlie May Hogue Simon, one of Arkansas's leading literary figures, was born in Monticello, Arkansas, on August 17, 1897. She attended Memphis State University in Tennessee. She also studied at Stanford University, California, the Chicago Art Institute, Illinois, and the Grande Chaumiere in Paris, France. Simon taught courses in creative writing at the University of Arkansas and appeared as a lecturer and teacher in creative writing seminars all over the country. She also taught English for three years at the Women's University of Tokyo, Japan. Simon is the author of twenty-seven books. Although she is most famous for her children's books, she was also a biographer, receiving the 1958 Albert Schweitzer Book Prize for A Seed Shall Serve, the story of Toyohiko Kagawa, spiritual leader of Modern Japan. In 1970, the State Education Department honored Simon by establishing the Charlie May Simon Award for Children's Literature. Simon was married to John Gould Fletcher, Arkansas's 1939 Pulitzer prize-winning poet. Charlie May Hogue Simon died in 1977.