Born: 10 July 1905, United States
Died: 28 May 2002
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Mildred Augustine, Mildred Wirt
American writer Mildred Benson is best remembered for writing 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew mystery books for children under the Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name, Carolyn Keene, starting in 1929.
After completing an English degree from the University of Iowa in 1925, she went on to become the first student to earn a Master’s in journalism at the university in 1927. She had already been selling short stories to magazines and worked at The Daily Iowan and the Clinton Herald while in college. She later worked for the Toledo Blade for 58 years, from 1944 until a few months before her death .
Benson published more than 130 books in total, using a dozen different names, including the Ruth Darrow series about a female aviator who competed in aerial races, helped fight forest fires and helped the Coast Guard catch human traffickers. Benson herself was also a licensed pilot. The Penny Parker books were published under her own name, about an aspiring journalist who solved mysteries and was, in Benson’s words, “a better Nancy Drew than Nancy is” because Benson had more creative freedom than with the Nancy Drew books. In addition to the Nancy Drew books, she wrote for Stratemeyer’s Ruth Fielding, Kay Tracey and Dana Girls series.
After publisher Edward Stratemeyer died in 1930, his daughters Harriet Adams and Edna Stratemeyer took over the company. However, starting in 1959, Adams began revising Benson’s Drew books, including changing the personality Benson had created into one that was less assertive and spunky. It wasn’t until a 1980 lawsuit against the company that Benson’s work on the series was revealed. Following her sister’s 1973 death, Adams tried to claim that she had written the series since their father’s death. However, Benson had continued working for the company for more than 20 years, into the 1950s, including writing dozens of Nancy Drew books following Stratemeyer’s death.
In 2001, well into her 90s, Benson received a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for her work. She was always happy to autography copies of Nancy Drew books she had ghotwritten.