Zachary, Hugh, 1928-2016

Person

Staff Only

Dates

Existence: 1928-01-12 - 2016-09-05

Biography

Hugh Zachary was born on January 12, 1928 in Holdenville Oklahoma. Zachary's interest in writing began in high school when he won a patriotic essay contest regarding students' feelings about World War II. While serving in the United States Army, he continued writing by submitting poems for publication. He claimed that he had 273 rejections before he finally sold a poem to a magazine called "Driftwood" and received a check for $10.

Zachary attended college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Throughout school and for many years after, he worked for radio and television stations including in Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida. He completed his first book, One Day in Hell, in 1961 and sold it to Novel Books.

In 1963, Zachary made the decision to become a full-time writer and he and wife, Elizabeth, moved to Long Beach, North Carolina. While he struggled with making money as a writer, Elizabeth supported the family. Eventually, Zachary found a niche in writing wholesale paperback books. Over the course of his career he has written books in numerous genres including science fiction, historical fiction, non-fiction, and romance. Much of his work has been completed under various pen names and he is well known for his contributions to science fiction and historical fiction series including White Indian, Rack the Healer, Children of the Lion, and America 2040. During his career, Zachary sold over a hundred books and received awards such as the Southern Book Award and First Runner-up for the West Coast Review of Books award.

Zachary passed away at the age of 88 on September 5, 2016 in Winter Springs, Florida.

Pen names used by Hugh Zachary include: Zach Hughes, Elizabeth Hughes, Evan Innes, Pablo Kane, Peter Kanto, Donald Clayton Porter, Gerald Canfield, William Stuart Long, Marcus Van Heller, and Peter Danielson.

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

Hugh Zachary Papers

Collection

Identifier: SC-MS-145

Scope and Contents The Hugh Zachary Papers contain materials pertaining to Zachary's career as a writer and consist of research materials, notes, manuscript proposals, outlines, and drafts of his work. The bulk of the materials included in this collection pertain to Zachary's research for the White Indian book series, of which he authored 14 books under the pen name, Donald Clayton Porter. The collection also contains manuscripts for both published and unpublished novels written by Zachary including two works...

Dates: 1992-1998

Found in: Special Collections

The Beachcomber's Handbook of Seafood Cookery Manuscript and Proofsheets

Collection

Identifier: SC-MS-095

Scope and Contents

Hugh Zachery wrote and Claude Howell illustrated The Beachcomber's Handbook of Seafood Cookery in 1969. This collection contains the proof sheets and a photocopy of a corrected typescript of the book, neither of which is a final draft. An autographed copy of the final publication is available in Randall Library Special Collections. The sketches for the manuscript were retained by the author.

Dates: 1969