Rebecca N. Porter

Rebecca N. Porter (after marriage, White; 1883–1963) was an American educator, author, and journalist. With a career that included newspaper reporting, reviewing movies, and lecturing, she wrote innumerable short stories and articles, as well as novels. Porter was a writing instructor in short stories and novels, under the University of California Extension Division. Scribner's Magazine printed a series of her articles on adult education based primarily on her work with extension students in her classes in short story writing. She published many articles on general subjects and also novels. Her gift for developing craftsmanship in her students was characterized as unusual. It was the books of traveling buyers who stayed at her father's raisin ranch in California which first made Porter want to write. Her parents were William S. and Martha Newman Porter.

There were some excellent writing courses in college between the years 1905 and 1909, and the instructors offered some individual conferences, which were very helpful to Porter. Social service work on the Oakland, California waterfront during Porter's college days gave her some excellent contacts. These social clubs did everything from debating and giving plays to weaving rag rugs and holding dances. While a college student, she wrote for the San Francisco Bulletin.

The novels, The Girl from Four Corners (Holt) and The Rest Hollow Mystery (Century; later also published in England Resthollow was set in Montecito, California.

During World War II, Porter White worked in Hollywood as a film reviewer.

For years, she made her home in Berkeley, California.

Awards and honors 1924, essay prize for "What Two Million Women Want of the Publishers", American Federation of Women's Clubs

Selected works Novels Afterglow, 1963 (text) The Girl from Four Corners : a romance of California to-day, 1920 (text) The Man from Nowhere, 1931 Open House, 1956 Raisin Valley, 1953 (text) The Rest Hollow Mystery, 1922 (text) The Rhinestone Helmet, 1927

Non-fiction I’d Love to Write

Short stories Source: As He Told It to Her Daughter, Ladies' Home Journal, July 1914 The Corner Table, National Magazine, November 1913 For the Benefit of the Belgians, Scribner's Magazine, June 1922 God of Luck, Ladies' Home Journal, April 1913 The Rhinestone Helmet, Argosy Allstory Weekly. Mar 10, Mar 17, Mar 24 1928 "Some Story", The Youth's Companion, October 5, 1922 The Wives of Xerxes, Scribner's Magazine, January 1921