Educated at Cornell University and Radcliffe College, Singmaster graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1907.She published her first story, The Lese-Majeste of Hans Heckendorn, in Scribner's Magazine in 1905 while she was still at school. In 1909, she published her first novel, When Sarah Saved the Day. In 1912, she met and married the English professor Harold Lewars, and, while she still added the Lewars name to her own, she continue to publish as Singmaster. Her earlier works were mostly directed at children. Most of her books deal with her Pennsylvania Dutch heritage. She was an excellent short story writer, publishing nearly 350 during her lifetime. Her story The Courier of the Czar was one of the O.Henry Short Story Awards for 1924. In 1934, her novel, Swords of Steel won the Newberry Award. Her other works include Gettysburg (1913), Katy Gaumer (1915), Basil Everman (1920), The Hidden Road (1923), Bred in the Bone and Other Stories (1925), What Everybody Wanted (1928), The Magic Mirror (1934), Rifles for Washington (1938), A High Wind Rising (1943), I Speak for Thadeus Stevens (1947) and I Heard of a River (1948). |
