8. John Toole
John Kennedy Toole was an American writer from New Orleans. He worked in various universities in Louisiana and New York; and during his brief military service, Toole spent two years teaching English to locals in Puerto Rico. After being discharged from service, he lived with his parents in New Orleans. Unfortunately, his morale and health was deteriorating rapidly and after losing all hope, Toole committed suicide in 1969. He was 31.
Toole’s mother managed to ask the writer Walker Percy, to read his son’s novel, who in turn sent it to a publisher. The novel was very well received by critics and Toole received a Pulitzer posthumously for the novel in 1981.
