Writer and editor, born in Mount Vernon, New York, USA. He attended Cornell University (1917–21), worked as a reporter on the Seattle Times (1922–3), then settled in New York City as an advertising copywriter (1924–5). From 1926 he was a contributing editor of the New Yorker magazine, and became known for his impeccable prose style and his personal and ironic essays. Married to New Yorker fiction editor, Katherine White (1929), he moved with her to North Brooklin, ME (1938), writing a column for Harper’s magazine, ‘One Man’s Meat’ (1938–43), and numerous pieces for the New Yorker. He wrote children’s classics, such as Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte’s Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970). He also published books of poetry, essays, and a revision of a grammar and composition text originally written by William Strunk, Jr, The Elements of Style (1959).