Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Windham moved with his then-boyfriend Fred Melton, an artist, to New York City in 1939.
In 1942 Windham collaborated with Williams on the play, You Touched Me!,[1] which is based on a D. H. Lawrence short story with the same title.
Campbell frequently helped Windham publish books through the Stamperia Valdonega in Verona, Italy.
Windham's novels include The Dog Star (1950),[6] which was praised by André Gide and Thomas Mann, The Hero Continues (1960), which is likely based on Williams, Two People (1965) which is about a love affair between a New York stockbroker whose wife has left him and a 17-year-old Italian boy in Rome, and Tanaquil (1972), which is based on the life of George Platt Lynes.
In June 2011 it was announced that Yale University would administer the Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes.