August Derleth

August William Derleth was born on February 24, 1909, in Sauk City, Wisconsin, a setting that would permeate his fiction as the fictional "Sac Prairie." He began writing at a young age, selling his first story at 16. He attended the University of Wisconsin, where he met and corresponded with H. P. Lovecraft, beginning a friendship that would shape his later career.¹ After college, Derleth worked as an editor and writer, publishing in pulp magazines and literary journals. His early regional novels, such as Wind Over Wisconsin (1938), earned critical praise and established his reputation as a chronicler of Midwestern life.

In 1939, Derleth and Donald Wandrei founded Arkham House specifically to publish a collection of Lovecraft's stories, which had been rejected by commercial publishers. The press's first book, The Outsider and Others, appeared in 1939 and is now a collector's item. After Lovecraft's death, Derleth became his literary executor and worked tirelessly to keep his works in print, also incorporating Lovecraft's mythos into his own stories, often adding a moral dimension that Lovecraft had not intended.² Arkham House later published works by other weird fiction writers, including Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard, becoming a cornerstone of the genre's preservation.

Beyond horror, Derleth wrote prolifically in other genres, including historical fiction, mystery, and poetry. His "Sac Prairie Saga" comprises dozens of novels and short stories that chronicle the life of his hometown from the 1830s to the present, earning him comparisons to Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis.³ He also wrote a series of detective novels under the pseudonym Stephen Grendon, and his children's books, such as The House on the Mound, were well received. Derleth's output was immense, with over 150 books published during his lifetime.

Derleth was also a dedicated naturalist and conservationist, founding the Derleth Press to publish works on local history and nature. He was a lifelong bachelor who lived with his mother, and he was known for his eccentric habits, such as writing in a small shack in his backyard. He was a mentor to young writers, including Ray Bradbury, who credited Derleth with early encouragement. Derleth also wrote poetry under the pseudonym Kenyon Holmes and was a founding member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. His posthumous collaborations with Lovecraft, while controversial, helped popularize the Cthulhu Mythos, but some critics argue they distorted Lovecraft's original vision.

Arkham House

A small press founded by Derleth and Donald Wandrei in 1939 to publish Lovecraft's works.

Cthulhu Mythos

A shared fictional universe created by Lovecraft and expanded by Derleth and others.

Sac Prairie

Derleth's fictionalized version of Sauk City, Wisconsin.