Huntington’s Forgotten Son: Tom Kroner

Dr. Stefan Schöberlein (Texas A&M-CT) will introduce the life and writings of modernist author and Huntington native, Tom Kromer (1906-1969), who was born on Washington Avenue, attended Huntington High and Marshall University, and wrote a critically acclaimed novel about the Great Depression.

Reading short prose by Kromer and excerpts from his forthcoming biography, Dr. Schöberlein will discuss life in the working-class neighborhoods of West Huntington (then Central City), the labor struggles of the local glass industry that marked Kromer’s early years, and the young writer’s first experience with publishing at Huntington High. The talk will incorporate historical photographs, maps of West Huntington/Central City, and a number of new discoveries about a writer whose life has long been described as a mystery.