John Bellairs
John Bellairs | |
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Born | John Anthony Bellairs January 17, 1938 Marshall, Michigan, U.S. |
Died | March 8, 1991 Haverhill, Massachusetts, US | (aged 53)
Occupation | Novelist |
Education | University of Notre Dame (BA) University of Chicago (MA) |
Period | 1966–1991 |
Genre | Fantasy, horror, humor |
Notable works | The House with a Clock in Its Walls, The Face in the Frost |
John Anthony Bellairs (January 17, 1938 – March 8, 1991)[1] was an American author best known for his fantasy novel The Face in the Frost and many Gothic mystery novels for young adults featuring the characters Lewis Barnavelt, Rose Rita Pottinger, Anthony Monday, and Johnny Dixon. Most of his books were illustrated by Edward Gorey.[2] Thirteen unfinished and original sequels to Bellairs' books have been written by Brad Strickland.[3]
Biography[]
Bellairs was born in Marshall, Michigan, the son of Virginia (Monk) and Frank Edward Bellairs, a saloonkeeper.[4] His hometown inspired the fictional town of New Zebedee, where he set his trilogy about Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita Pottinger. Bellairs received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1959[5] and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago in 1960. He received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in 1959.[6] He spent six months living and writing in Bristol, England, before returning to the United States to teach college.
Bellairs taught English at the College of Saint Teresa (1963–65), Shimer College (1966–67), Emmanuel College (1968–69), and Merrimack College (1969–71) before turning full-time to writing in 1971. He maintained a lifelong interest in archaeology, architecture, kitschy antiques, bad poetry, traveling to the UK, and studying history and Latin.[1] His favorite authors included Charles Dickens, Henry James, C.V. Wedgwood, Garrett Mattingly, and M.R. James, from whose ghost stories he occasionally borrowed elements to work into his own fiction.[3]
Bellairs died suddenly of cardiovascular disease at his home in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1991. He was 53 years old. He was survived by his wife, Priscilla (Braids) Bellairs, whom he had married on June 24, 1968, and their son Frank J. Bellairs.[1] Frank Bellairs died in 1999 at the age of 29. Priscilla Bellairs is alive and lives in Newburyport.[7]
Writings[]
Bellairs' first published work, St. Fidgeta and Other Parodies, is a collection of short stories satirizing the rites and rituals of Second Vatican Council-era Catholicism. The title story of St. Fidgeta grew out of stories Bellairs made up and shared with friends while living in Chicago. After committing one such story to paper, he sent it to the Chicago-based Catholic magazine The Critic, which published the story in summer 1965. The following year, the hagiography of St. Fidgeta was supplemented by eleven other humorous stories, including an essay on lesser-known popes of antiquity, a cathedral constructed over the course of centuries, and a spoof letter from a modern-day Xavier Rynne about the escapades at the fictional Third Vatican Council. The book remained out of print for decades until it was rereleased in a 2009 anthology.[citation needed] Library Journal hailed St. Fidgeta as "religious burlesque" that delivered "strokes of inspired foolishness." A writer for the National Catholic Reporter called it a "gem."[8]
The Pedant and the Shuffly, his second book, is a short illustrated fable featuring the evil magician Snodrog (the titular pendant), who ensnares his victims with inescapable (and nonsensical) logic until the kindly sorcerer, Sir Bertram Crabtree-Gore, enlists the help of a magical Shuffly to defeat Snodrog. The book was originally published in 1968 and rereleased in 2001[9] and 2009.[10]
Bellairs undertook his third book, The Face in the Frost, while living in Britain and after reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, but it is not much like that book, apart from sharing the idea of a wizard who is palpably human and not a literary stereotype. Bellairs said of his third book:
"The Face in the Frost was an attempt to write in the Tolkien manner. I was much taken by The Lord of the Rings and wanted to do a modest work on those lines. In reading the latter book I was struck by the fact that Gandalf was not much of a person—just a good guy. So I gave Prospero, my wizard, most of my phobias and crotchets. It was simply meant as entertainment and any profundity will have to be read in."[11]
Writing in 1973, Lin Carter described The Face in the Frost as one of the three best fantasy novels to appear since The Lord of the Rings. Carter stated that Bellairs was planning a sequel to The Face in the Frost at the time.[12] An unfinished sequel titled The Dolphin Cross was included in the anthology Magic Mirrors (New England Science Fiction Association Press, 2009).[10]
Bellairs's next novel, The House with a Clock in Its Walls (1973), was originally composed as a contemporary adult fantasy, but at the time there was little market for the sub-genre. The second publisher to which it was submitted suggested rewriting it as a young readers' book; Bellairs did so, and thus determined the future course of his career, as he wound up writing 15 young-adult novels. The House with a Clock in Its Walls was named as one of the Outstanding Books of 1973 by the New York Times.[13]
A number of Bellairs' books have been translated into German, French, Japanese, and Polish, among other languages.
Legacy[]
On his death in 1991, Bellairs left behind two unfinished manuscripts and two one-page synopses for future adventures. The Bellairs estate commissioned Brad Strickland to complete the two unfinished manuscripts and to write novels based on the two one-page outlines. These became The Ghost in the Mirror; The Vengeance of the Witch-finder; The Drum, the Doll, and the Zombie; and The Doom of the Haunted Opera, respectively. Starting in 1996 with The Hand of the Necromancer, Strickland began writing his own stories based on the established characters.[3]
Strickland announced in spring 2005 that new adventures of the Bellairs characters were under way, following contract negotiations with the Bellairs estate and a two-year absence since his last-published novel. The first of these new adventures was The House Where Nobody Lived, which was published on October 5, 2006.[3]
In 1992, a historical marker was placed in front of the Cronin House in Bellairs's hometown of Marshall, noting that the imposing Italianate mansion was the basis for his 1973 book.[14]
Bellairs was inducted posthumously into the Haverhill Citizens Hall of Fame in 2000.[3]
Illustrators[]
Edward Gorey provided cover illustrations and frontispieces for all but three of Bellairs' 15 children's works and continued to provide them for the Strickland novels until his death in 2000. The novel The Beast Under the Wizard's Bridge featured Gorey's last published artwork before his death.[15] Despite the strong association of the novels with their illustrations, Bellairs and Gorey never met and may have never even corresponded.[2] The Gorey covers are no longer in print, though some books still contain interior Gorey illustrations.
S. D. Schindler and Bart Goldman have created cover art for the books published since 2001.
Marilyn Fitschen provided the covers and illustrations for Bellairs' first three books: St Fidgeta and Other Parodies, The Pedant and the Shuffly, and The Face in the Frost.
Awards[]
# | Book Title | Award | Year |
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01 | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | American Library Association Children's Books of International Interest Award | 1973 |
02 | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | New York Times Outstanding Books of 1973 Award | 1973 |
03 | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | South Carolina Children's Book Award Nominee | 1978–1979 |
04 | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | Michigan Young Readers Award Nominee | 1980 |
05 | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | Maude Hart Lovelace Award Nominee (Minnesota) | 1982 |
06 | The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring | South Carolina Children's Book Award Nominee | 1979–1980 |
07 | The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring | Utah Children's Fiction Book Award | 1981 |
08 | The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn | Maud Hart Lovelace Award Nominee (Minnesota) | 1983 |
09 | The Curse of the Blue Figurine | Utah Children's Fiction Book Award Nominee | 1985 |
10 | The Curse of the Blue Figurine | Indian Paintbrush Book Award Nominee (Wyoming) | 1986 |
11 | The Curse of the Blue Figurine | Virginia Young Readers Award, Middle School Division | 1986–1987 |
12 | The Curse of the Blue Figurine | Read-Aloud Books Too Good to Miss List (Indiana Library Federation) | 1990–1991 |
13 | The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt | Iowa Teen Award Nominee | 1985–1986 |
14 | The Dark Secret of Weatherend | Utah Children's Fiction Book Award Nominee | 1987 |
15 | The Eyes of the Killer Robot | Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award Nominee (Illinois) | 1991 |
16 | The Lamp from the Warlock's Tomb | Edgar Allan Poe Award, Best Juvenile Division, Nominee | 1989 |
17 | The Specter from the Magician's Museum | Georgia Author of the Year Award, Young Adult Division | 1998 |
18 | The Specter from the Magician's Museum | New York Public Library "Best Books for the Teen Age" Awards |
Published books[]
Novels[]
# | Title | Month | Year | Series | Chapters | Pages | Writer | Illustrator |
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01 | St. Fidgeta and Other Parodies | Jun | 1966 | 12 | 123 | John Bellairs | Marilyn Fitschen | |
02 | The Pedant and the Shuffly | Feb | 1968 | NA | 79 | John Bellairs | Marilyn Fitschen | |
03 | The Face in the Frost | 1969 | 11 | 174 | John Bellairs | Marilyn Fitschen | ||
04 | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | Jan | 1973 | Lewis Barnavelt | 11 | 179 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
05 | The Figure in the Shadows | 1975 | Lewis Barnavelt | 13 | 155 | John Bellairs | Mercer Mayer | |
06 | The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring | Jan | 1976 | Lewis Barnavelt | 13 | 188 | John Bellairs | Richard Egielski |
07 | The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn | May | 1978 | Anthony Monday | 17 | 180 | John Bellairs | Judith Gwyn Brown |
08 | The Curse of the Blue Figurine | May | 1983 | Johnny Dixon | 12 | 200 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
09 | The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt | Nov | 1983 | Johnny Dixon | 16 | 168 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
10 | The Dark Secret of Weatherend | Jul | 1984 | Anthony Monday | 15 | 182 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
11 | The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull | Nov | 1984 | Johnny Dixon | 11 | 170 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
12 | The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost | Nov | 1985 | Johnny Dixon | 15 | 147 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
13 | The Eyes of the Killer Robot | Oct | 1986 | Johnny Dixon | 17 | 167 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
14 | The Lamp from the Warlock's Tomb | May | 1988 | Anthony Monday | 14 | 168 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
15 | The Trolley to Yesterday | Jul | 1989 | Johnny Dixon | 18 | 183 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
16 | The Chessmen of Doom | Nov | 1989 | Johnny Dixon | 16 | 155 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
17 | The Secret of the Underground Room | Mar | 1990 | Johnny Dixon | 13 | 127 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
18 | The Mansion in the Mist | Aug | 1992 | Anthony Monday | 17 | 170 | John Bellairs | Edward Gorey |
19 | The Ghost in the Mirror | Apr | 1993 | Lewis Barnavelt | 13 | 169 | coauthors![]() |
Edward Gorey |
20 | The Vengeance of the Witch-finder | Sep | 1993 | Lewis Barnavelt | 15 | 153 | coauthors![]() |
Edward Gorey |
21 | The Drum, the Doll, and the Zombie | Sep | 1994 | Johnny Dixon | 15 | 153 | coauthors![]() |
Edward Gorey |
22 | The Doom of the Haunted Opera | Sep | 1995 | Lewis Barnavelt | 16 | 153 | coauthors![]() |
Edward Gorey |
23 | The Hand of the Necromancer | Sep | 1996 | Johnny Dixon | 18 | 168 | Brad Strickland | Edward Gorey |
24 | The Bell, the Book, and the Spellbinder | Oct | 1997 | Johnny Dixon | 16 | 149 | Brad Strickland | Edward Gorey |
25 | The Specter from the Magician's Museum | Mar | 1998 | Lewis Barnavelt | 16 | 149 | Brad Strickland | Edward Gorey |
26 | The Wrath of the Grinning Ghost | Sep | 1999 | Johnny Dixon | 15 | 166 | Brad Strickland | Edward Gorey |
27 | The Beast Under the Wizard's Bridge | Sep | 2000 | Lewis Barnavelt | 15 | 151 | Brad Strickland | Edward Gorey |
28 | The Tower at the End of the World | Sep | 2001 | Lewis Barnavelt | 15 | 146 | Brad Strickland | S. D. Schindler |
29 | The Whistle, the Grave, and the Ghost | Aug | 2003 | Lewis Barnavelt | 14 | 152 | Brad Strickland | S. D. Schindler |
30 | The House Where Nobody Lived | Oct | 2006 | Lewis Barnavelt | 18 | 173 | Brad Strickland | Bart Goldman |
31 | The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer | Oct | 2008 | Lewis Barnavelt | 13 | 168 | Brad Strickland | Bart Goldman |
Some Lewis Barnavelt and Johnny Dixon books were outlined by Bellairs and completed by Strickland, who subsequently created new stories in both series.
Publishers[]
# | Title | Amber | Artist House | Bantam Skylark/BDD | Barnes & Noble | Corgi | Dell Yearling/BDD | Dial/Penguin | Editions du Rocher | Editora Record | Gallimard Jeunesse | Harcourt Brace Jovanovich | Heyne | Macmillan | Mythopoeic Press | NESFA Press | Puffin/Penguin | Shueisha Publishing |
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01 | St. Fidgeta and Other Parodies | ![]() |
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02 | The Pedant and the Shuffly | ![]() |
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03 | The Face in the Frost | ![]() |
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04 | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | ![]() |
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05 | The Figure in the Shadows | ![]() |
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06 | The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring | ![]() |
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07 | The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn | ![]() |
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08 | The Curse of the Blue Figurine | ![]() |
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09 | The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt | ![]() |
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10 | The Dark Secret of Weatherend | ![]() |
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11 | The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull | ![]() |
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12 | The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost | ![]() |
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13 | The Eyes of the Killer Robot | ![]() |
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14 | The Lamp from the Warlock's Tomb | ![]() |
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15 | The Trolley to Yesterday | ![]() |
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16 | The Chessmen of Doom | ![]() |
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17 | The Secret of the Underground Room | ![]() |
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18 | The Mansion in the Mist | ![]() |
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19 | The Ghost in the Mirror | ![]() |
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20 | The Vengeance of the Witch-finder | ![]() |
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21 | The Drum, the Doll, and the Zombie | ![]() |
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22 | The Doom of the Haunted Opera | ![]() |
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23 | The Hand of the Necromancer | ![]() |
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24 | The Bell, the Book, and the Spellbinder | ![]() |
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25 | The Specter from the Magician's Museum | ![]() |
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26 | The Wrath of the Grinning Ghost | ![]() |
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27 | The Beast Under the Wizard's Bridge | ![]() |
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28 | The Tower at the End of the World | ![]() |
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29 | The Whistle, the Grave, and the Ghost | ![]() |
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30 | The House Where Nobody Lived | ![]() |
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31 | The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer | ![]() |
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32 | Magic Mirrors | ![]() |
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33 | The Best of John Bellairs | ![]() |
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34 | The Best of John Bellairs 2 | ![]() |
Adaptations[]
Films[]
On November 18, 2011, Mythology Entertainment, founded by Brad Fischer,[16] co-president of production at Phoenix Pictures; Laeta Kalogridis; and James Vanderbilt announced that they hired Eric Kripke, creator of Supernatural and Revolution, to write and produce a feature film based on John Bellairs' work through a partnership with John's estate. "Jamie, Laeta and I are thrilled to launch Mythology Entertainment and to be partnering with Eric Kripke and the estate of John Bellairs for our first feature project,” Fischer said.
“As a kid, Eric was inspired by Bellairs’ work and these books have stayed with him through the years…. As a company, we aspire to be a haven for artists and friends who believe in the power of myth and remember that feeling we all got as kids, when the lights went down and the images came up and anything was possible.”[17]
The film adaptation of Bellairs' novel The House with a Clock in Its Walls stars Jack Black as Uncle Jonathan, Cate Blanchett as Mrs. Zimmerman, and Owen Vaccaro as Lewis Barnavelt, and was directed by Eli Roth. It was released on September 21, 2018.[18]
Audiobooks[]
# | Title | Year | Publisher | Narrator |
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01 | The Face in the Frost | 1995 | Recorded Books | George Guidall |
02 | The Ghost in the Mirror | 1995 | Recorded Books | George Guidall |
03 | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | 1995 | Recorded Books | George Guidall |
04 | The Lamp from the Warlock's Tomb | 1995 | Recorded Books | Betty Low |
05 | The Mansion in the Mist | 1995 | Recorded Books | Betty Low |
Television[]
# | TV program title | Book title | Producer | Year |
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01 | Once Upon a Midnight Scary | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | VideoGems | 1979 |
02 | The Clue According to Sherlock Holmes | The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn | VideoGems | 1980 |
03 | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | The House with a Clock in Its Walls | Barr Films | 1991 |
04 | The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn | The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn | Barr Films | 1991 |
See also[]
- Lewis Barnavelt (series)
- Johnny Dixon (series)
- Anthony Monday (series)
- List of horror fiction authors
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Olendorf, Donna (1992). Something About the Author. Detroit: Gale Research. pp. 23–25. ISBN 978-0-8103-2278-3 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Domino, Matt (May 12, 2017). "Why the Link Between Edward Gorey and John Bellairs Remains Unbreakable". The Millions. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "John Bellairs". lookingglassreview.com. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ Reginald, R. (September 2010). Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Vol 2. ISBN 9780941028776.
- ^ "John A. Bellairs, 53, A Children's Author". The New York Times. March 14, 1991. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ "Press release" (PDF). University of Notre Dame. March 15, 1959. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
- ^ Shea, Jack (April 18, 2018). "Newburyport woman gets glimpse at film on late husband's book". The Daily News of Newburyport. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ Washburn, Susanne (October 29, 2004). "The marvelous St. Fidgeta: Tales of a 7-year-old martyr are a gem of religious burlesque". National Catholic Reporter: 16–17.
- ^ "The Mythopoeic Society - Mythopoeic Press, The Pedant and the Shuffly". www.mythsoc.org. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Magic Mirrors – NESFA". Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Commire, Anne (1971). Something About the Author. 2. Detroit: Gale Research. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8103-0052-1 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Lin Carter, Imaginary Worlds. New York: Ballantine/Random House, 1973, pp. 1165-67 (Cites Carter's correspondence with Bellairs).
- ^ Heinecken, Dawn (2011). "Haunting Masculinity and Frightening Femininity: The Novels of John Bellairs". Children's Literature in Education. 42 (2): 118–131. doi:10.1007/s10583-010-9127-7. ISSN 1573-1693.
- ^ Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-19-174437-2. OCLC 921452204.
- ^ "Goreyography: West Wing: Seeking Gorey: Available from Amazon.com". www.goreyography.com. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
- ^ "Brad Fischer – Co-President, Production". September 10, 2009. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
- ^ Mike Fleming (November 18, 2011). "Phoenix Co-President Bradley Fischer Forms Mythology With Scribes Laeta Kalogridis And James Vanderbilt". Deadline New York. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
- ^ Lizzie Plaugic (March 27, 2018). "Watch the first trailer for The House with a Clock in its Walls". The Verge. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
External links[]
- Bellairsia | blog | forum – celebrating John Bellairs
- John Bellairs at Find a Grave
- John Bellairs at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- John Bellairs at Library of Congress Authorities, with 42 catalog records
- John Bellairs Papers at the University of Minnesota Libraries
- 20th-century American novelists
- 20th-century American male writers
- American fantasy writers
- Shimer College faculty
- People from Marshall, Michigan
- University of Notre Dame alumni
- University of Chicago alumni
- 1938 births
- 1991 deaths
- American male novelists
- Novelists from Illinois