Martha Gellhorn: Pioneering Female War Correspondent

Summarize why this person is / was special

Martha Gellhorn was an American journalist who became one of the first female war correspondents. She is also known for her novels and travel writing.

Give some background information about where/when they were born and their early life.

Gellhorn was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1908. The third of four children, she loved writing and traveling.

Describe how they started to do something that would make them famous or have an impact.

After she had finished her studies, Gellhorn worked as a journalist, initially in the USA. Then she went to Europe and covered major conflicts including World War II. Later, she went to Vietnam and eventually moved to the UK. In 1938, at the age of 30, she was working for one of the most prestigious British newspapers, The Times.

Give more details about what they did.

The lives of real people played a large part in her writing, but she also wrote several novels. In 1940, she married the writer Ernest Hemingway. However, Gellhorn wanted to be known for her own achievements. In 1965, she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her journalistic work.

Say what they are doing now and/or how they will be remembered.

Gellhorn died in 1998 at the age of 89. She will always be remembered as one of the 20th century’s best war correspondents.