Heyward, DuBose, << HAY wuhrd, duh BOHZ >> (1885-1940), an American author, wrote poems and novels about the area around Charleston, South Carolina, his birthplace. He wrote mainly about the blacks of Charleston and the South Carolina sea islands. His most famous book is the novel Porgy (1925). Heyward and his wife, Dorothy, adapted it for the stage in 1927. George Gershwin used the story as the basis for his opera Porgy and Bess (1935). Heyward and Ira Gershwin collaborated on the opera’s libretto and lyrics.
Heyward’s other novels include Mamba’s Daughters (1929), which he adapted into a play with his wife in 1939; Peter Ashley (1932); Lost Morning (1936); and Star-Spangled Virgin (1939). Heyward wrote the books of verse Skylines and Horizons (1924) and Jasbo Brown and Selected Poems (1931).
Heyward was born on Aug. 31, 1885. He died on June 16, 1940.
