On Nov. 4, author E. L. Doctorow will receive a lifetime achievement award when he accepts the 2007 Chicago Tribune Literary Prize. What many people don’t know is that the author of "Ragtime" and "World’s Fair" does much of his writing in the home he shares with his wife Helen in Sag Harbor.
Doctorow is profiled in Sunday's edition of the Tribune, which describes the home as, “A modest frame house near Upper Sag Harbor Cove” in which the author has lived for three decades.
Public records show that the home on John Street, listed in Helen’s name, sits on an 8,700 square foot lot.
The couple also have an apartment in Manhattan, where Doctorow says he fulfills his “human need to walk among strangers.” As for Sag Harbor, he tells the paper, "After a while, all this peace and quiet drives you crazy”.
Doctorow is among an impressive group of literary giants who have lived in the town, including John Steinbeck, James Fenimore Cooper and Truman Capote.
Photo, New York State Writers Institute