Author Paula Fox Dies at 93

Prize-winning author Paula Fox, a prominent figure in New York City’s literary scene, famous for the novels “Desperate Characters” and “Poor George,” has died at the age of 93. Her daughter, Linda Carroll, told the Associated Press on Saturday that she died at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital on Wednesday after experiencing complications with her health. Fox was renowned for her novel “Desperate Characters,” which focused on 1960s domestic life in New York City. Fox, who also wrote more than a dozen children’s books, won the Newbery Medal in 1974 for “The Slave Dancer,” a story about a 13-year-old boy’s experience in the slave trade. She experienced a surge in popularity late in her life thanks to younger authors Jonathan Franzen and David Foster Wallace, who were outspoken admirers of her work. Her 2001 memoir “Borrowed Finery,” which was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle award, tells of her real-life struggles. Abandoned by both her parents as a child, she became a single mother before turning 20 and worked as a teacher and tutor for troubled children before gaining recognition as a novelist.