Wisconsin-born editor and writer.

Gladys Alrose Fornell (1904-1982) was born in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Minnesota. She spent much of her life in New York City, and was employed for several years as an editor for the Princeton University Press. She attended the Colorado Writers’ Conference in 1948, and twice received scholarships to study at the artists’ community of Yaddo in Saratoga Springs. Although she eventually left her job at Princeton, she continued freelance editing to support her writing. With her sisters Irma and Cleora, she also compiled a family history about their Swedish ancestor entitled “Nils Fornell Wisconsin Pioneer.” In 1978, she and her sisters moved to Quincy, Illinois, where she was involved in local theater and died in 1982.

Despite many efforts in the 1940s and 1950s, Fornell was unsuccessful in publishing her fiction stories. Many publishers, however, recognized her talent, particularly in the manuscript of her completed novel “Montel,” and encouraged her to keep writing. Correspondence indicates that "Montel" was one of the pieces Fornell worked on at Yaddo. Fornell had greater success later as a musical playwright, collaborating with composer Richard d’Honau. Among a variety of pieces for children and young adults, her adaptation of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” was performed Off-Broadway in 1958, and “Puss in Boots” won the Aline Bernstein Award and had several performances in New York City in 1960. In 1962, under the name of “Red Boots,” it was staged at the summer theater Cape Playhouse in Cape Cod, directed by Eleanor Gould of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Correspondence indicates that Fornell continued working on projects for adult audiences, including a few unfinished novels. In the mid-1960s, Fornell also began writing the musical “Mister Splitfoot,” which she was still working on at the time of her death. Based on a historical biography written by her brother Earl Fornell, it is about the life of 19th-century celebrity clairvoyant Margaret Fox.