This Goodly Land

H. E. Francis (January 11, 1924–present)

Other Names Used

• Herbert Edward Francis, Jr.: full name

Alabama Connections

• Huntsville, Madison County: adult residence

Selected Works

• Francis, H. E. The Itinerary of Beggars. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1973.
• Francis, H. E. Naming Things: Stories. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980.
• Francis, H. E. A Disturbance of Gulls and Other Stories. New York: G. Braziller, 1983.
• Francis, H. E. The Sudden Trees and Other Stories. Savannah: Frederic C. Beil, 1999.
• Francis, H. E. Goya, Are You With Me Now?. Savannah: Frederic C. Beil, 1999.
• Francis, H. E. The Invisible Country. Savannah: Frederic C. Beil, 2003.
• Francis, H. E. I'll Never Leave You: Stories. Kansas City, Mo.: BkMk Press, 2004.

Literary Awards

• "A Chronicle of Love" included in Prize Stories 1976: The O. Henry Awards
• "A Chronicle of Love" included in Pushcart Prize collection, 1976
• "Two Lives" included in Pushcart Prize collection, 1980

Biographical Information

H. E. Francis was born and raised in Bristol, R.I., a New England mill town. After finishing high school, he worked as an accountant in a zipper factory. Francis served in the US Army Air Force during World War II and used the G.I. Bill to attend college after the war. He graduated with a BA in English and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin in 1948 and earned an AM from Brown University in 1950. Francis taught at Pennsylvania State University, University of Tennessee, Northern Illinois University, and Emory University before joining the English department of the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1966. After Francis’s retirement, the UAH English department and the Ruth Hindman Foundation established an annual short story competition named for him.

Francis began writing when he was teaching at Pennsylvania State. His first story was accepted by the literary magazine Prairie Schooner. Since then, Francis has published novels and short story collections in both English and Spanish. A Fulbright Scholarship to Oxford in the 1950s and three Fulbright grants to Argentina in the 1960s and early 1970s furthered his interest in Spanish literature. In addition to his own writing, Francis also translates the work of Spanish-language writers. Francis divides his time between Huntsville and Madrid, Spain, with frequent visits to Argentina.

Interests and Themes

The fiction of H. E. Francis features themes of isolation, loneliness, and loss. His writing style is influenced by his studies of world literature, especially Spanish-language literature.

For More Information

Please check your local library for these materials. If items are not available locally, your librarian can help you borrow them through the InterLibrary Loan program. Your librarian can also help you find other information about this author.

There may be more information available through the databases in the Alabama Virtual Library. If you are an Alabama citizen, AVL can be used at your public library or school library media center. You can also get a username and password from your librarian to use AVL at home.

Reference Articles

• Kingsbury, Pam. "A Conversation with H. E. Francis". First Draft Spring. 2005: 11-13.

Reference Web Sites

• Beasley, Carole Ottaway. "H. E. Francis". The Encyclopedia of Alabama. 2009. Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2468.

Photo by N. L. Romero; courtesy of BkMk Press.

Last updated on May 30, 2008.