Edora Welty was born on April 13, 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi. She worked as a radio writer, a newspaper editor, then as a photographer and interviewer. She was honored with both national and international awards writing about Mississippi and its culture, dialects, and unique history that is visualize in the story, "The Petrified Man." Her first published story, "Death of a Traveling Salesman," in 1936 opened the eyes of New York's literary world. Ms. Welty has won many awards across her lifetime, such as: Pulitzer Prize, National Medal of the Arts, Rea Award, and the Legion d'Honneur. She is a sharp observer of the human condition, making her tales more than just witty and perceptive narratives of life in the rural South.