Anne Blackwell Payne (1887–1969)

Anne Blackwell Payne (1887-1969) was born in Concord, N.C. She attended Flora MacDonald College and taught in the graded schools of Washington, N.C. After her mother's death, Payne moved to New York to attend Columbia University and studied poetry under Joseph Auslander. She was a charter member of the Writers' Society at Columbia and an award-winning member of the Poetry Society of America. In 1930, the University of North Carolina Press published her only book of poetry, Released. The book's favorable reviews made her well-known in her home state. After spending summers with her brother's family at their home on the Pimlico River and a brief stint running a library in Wilmington, N.C., for the Federal Housing Administration during World War II, Payne left New York permanently to live in Charlotte, N.C. There she acted as hostess-housekeeper for her cousin Thomas Sparrow. Her writings were published steadily in newspapers, magazines, and anthologies until her death in 1969. Some of Payne's poems were award winners in competitions sponsored by the North Carolina Poetry Society, the Poetry Council of North Carolina, or the Poetry Society of America.