Zona Gale (26 August 1874 – 27 December 1938) was an American author and playwright. Gale was born in Portage, Wisconsin, which she often used as a setting in her writing. She attended Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and later entered the University of Wisconsin–Madison, from which she received a Bachelor of Literature degree in 1895, and four years, later a master's degree. After graduation, Gale wrote for newspapers in Milwaukee and New York City. However, before long she gave up journalism to focus on writing fiction. She published her first novel, Romance Island, in 1906, and began the very popular series of "Friendship Village" stories. In 1912, Gale moved back to Portage, which she would call home for the rest of her life, although making trips to New York. In 1920, she published the novel Miss Lulu Bett, which depicts life in the Midwestern United States. She adapted it as a play, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1921. In the same year, Gale took an active role in the creation of the Wisconsin Equal Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination against women. In 1928 at the age of fifty-four she married William L. Breese, also of Portage. , December 29, 1938. Jesse Lynch Williams (1918) · Eugene O'Neill (1920) · Zona Gale (1921) · Eugene O'Neill (1922) · Owen Davis (1923) · Hatcher Hughes (1924) · Sidney Howard (1925) Complete list: (1918-1925) · (1926-1950) · (1951-1975) · (1976-2000) · (2001-present)