John Bennett (author)

[1] These were difficult years financially, and he developed eyestrain and depression that he treated with patent medicines containing cocaine, which led to addiction.

Following a suggestion from his sister, he wrote a children's book about a boy in Elizabethan England who is kidnapped into a company of actors.

[1] He married Susan Smythe, the daughter of a prominent Charleston family, and became active in promoting culture in the city.

[1] When World War I began, Bennett took part in volunteer work in Charleston that ended his social isolation.

[1] A leader in this effort, Bennett worked with Hervey Allen and DuBose Heyward to found the Poetry Society of South Carolina, which sponsored visits by many of the distinguished poets of the day.

The most successful of these was his 1928 collection of international folk tales, The Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo; it was a runner-up for the 1929 Newbery Award.