Charles Simmons

Charles Paul Simmons (August 17, 1924 – June 1, 2017) was an American editor and novelist. His first novel, Powdered Eggs, was awarded the William Faulkner Foundation Award (1965) for a notable first novel. Later works include Salt Water (1998), The Belles Lettres Papers, and Wrinkles and co-author together with Alexander Coleman of All There is to Know: Readings From the Illustrious Eleventh Edition of the Britannica.

He was formerly an editor of The New York Times Book Review. Simmons graduated from Regis High School and then Columbia University in 1948.

The Belles Lettres Papers satirized the world of book review publications; the Chicago Tribune said that, in it, Simmons "mounted .50-caliber machine guns on his wings and strafed his former colleagues at the New York Times Book Review". One plot point alluded to a 1985 news story surrounding a newly discovered sonnet that some claimed was written by Shakespeare.

Selected works

Simmons, Charles (1973). Powdered Eggs. Penguin Books. Simmons, Charles (1978). Wrinkles. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Simmons, Charles (1987). The Belles Lettres Papers. William Morrow. Simmons, Charles (1988). An Old-fashioned Darling. Penguin Books. Coleman, Alexander (Editor); Simmons, Charles (Editor). (1994). All There Is to Know: Readings From the Illustrious Eleventh Edition of the Britannica. Simon & Schuster. Simmons, Charles (1999). Salt Water. Gallery Books.