About Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith was born in Forth Worth, Texas on January 19, 1921. Highsmith had an unhappy childhood when her parents had split up months before her birth. Once her mother got remarried she brought Highsmith to New York at the age of six, where she bickered a lot with her stepfather. Patricia spent her early years living with her maternal grandmother, whom taught her how to read before the age of two.
Highsmith wrote thrilling stories in high school, one about a murderous nanny in which was rejected from her high school's literary magazine. She studied the subject English at Barnard College and started her first career job as a comic strip script writer. Strangers On A Train was her first novel and was rejected by six publishers before appearing in print in 1950. Alfred Hitchcock directed a 1951 film version of the novel. Highsmith only received about $7,000 for the film rights, only enough to pursue her career as a writer full time.
Highsmith wrote thrilling stories in high school, one about a murderous nanny in which was rejected from her high school's literary magazine. She studied the subject English at Barnard College and started her first career job as a comic strip script writer. Strangers On A Train was her first novel and was rejected by six publishers before appearing in print in 1950. Alfred Hitchcock directed a 1951 film version of the novel. Highsmith only received about $7,000 for the film rights, only enough to pursue her career as a writer full time.