June Bailey White (born May 31, 1950) is an American author and a regular radio commentator for the National Public Radio program All Things Considered.

Bailey White
Born (1950-05-31) May 31, 1950 (age 74)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materFlorida State University
Occupation(s)Author and radio commentator
Parent(s)Robb White, Rosalie White

Biography

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June Bailey White was born in Thomasville, Georgia, May 31, 1950. She is the daughter of Robb White, who was a fiction writer, and Rosalie White (née Mason), a farmer.[1] White grew up with her mother in Georgia, while her father lived and wrote in Hollywood. Her mother, and her mother's South Georgian eccentricity, have been central to her writing.[2] Her mother died in 1994.[3]

After graduating from Florida State University in 1973, Bailey White moved to California, where she married her father's best friend.[2] After 11 years of marriage, she returned to Georgia where she taught, for more than twenty years, at the school she attended as a girl.[4] Her friend, Daniel Pinkwater, convinced her to submit some commentaries to NPR. Her gravelly voice and gift for portraying the unusual personalities of people in the rural South with gentle wit proved very popular with her NPR audience.[4] In 1999, she left teaching to concentrate on her writing.

White has published four books: Mama Makes Up Her Mind; Sleeping at the Starlite Motel; Quite a Year for Plums; and, in 2008, Nothing with Strings.

Awards

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  • Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, inducted 2008[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Bailey White". National Public Radio. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  2. ^ a b Peter Applebome (15 July 1993). "At Home With: Bailey White; Turning Life With Mama Into Front-Porch Radio". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 August 2009.
  3. ^ Linda Wertheimer (18 March 1994). "Rosalie M. White Dies at Age 80". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  4. ^ a b Charlotte Pfeiffer (11 July 2002). "Bailey White". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 27 April 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2006.
  5. ^ "Honorees - Bailey White". University of Georgia Libraries. Retrieved 16 August 2009.
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