Clare Winger Harris

Clare Winger Harris
Clare Winger Harris, as pictured in the 1929 debut issue of Science Wonder Quarterly
Born	Clare Winger (1891-01-18)January 18, 1891 Freeport, Illinois
Died	October 1968 (aged 76–77) Pasadena, California
Nationality	American
Period	1923–1930
Genre	Science fiction
Spouse	Frank Clyde Harris
Children	3

Clare Winger Harris (January 18, 1891 – October 1968) was an early science fiction writer whose short stories were published during the 1920s. She is credited as the first woman to publish stories under her own name in science fiction magazines. Her stories often dealt with characters on the "borders of humanity" such as cyborgs.

Harris began publishing in 1926, and soon became well liked by readers. She sold a total of eleven stories, which were collected in 1947 as Away From the Here and Now. Her gender was a surprise to Gernsback, the editor who first bought her work, as she was the first woman to publish science fiction stories under her own name. Her stories, which often feature strong female characters, have been occasionally reprinted and have received some positive critical response, including a recognition of her pioneering role as a woman writer in a male-dominated field.

Clare Winger was born on January 18, 1891, in Freeport, Illinois and later attended Smith College in Massachusetts. In 1912 she married Frank Clyde Harris. Her husband was an architect and engineer who served in World War I and was chief engineer with the Loudon Machinery Company in Iowa and one of the organizers of the American Monorail Company of Cleveland, Ohio.

Harris gave birth to three sons (Clyde Winger, born 1915; Donald Stover, born 1916; and Lynn Thackrey, born 1918). She died in Pasadena, California in 1968.

Harris wrote her most acclaimed works during the 1920s. In 1930, she stopped writing to raise and educate her children.

Harris published her first short story, "The Runaway World," in the July 1926 issue of Weird Tales. In December of that year, she submitted a story for a contest being run by Amazing Stories editor Hugo Gernsback. Harris's story, "The Fate of the Poseidonia" (a space opera about Martians who steal earth's water), placed third. Harris soon became one of Gernback's most popular writers.