His most celebrated work is the Western classic “True Grit.” This book chronicles the efforts of a Yell County teenager, Mattie Ross, along with U.S. Though he voluntarily ended his journalism career in 1964, he used the skills and tools he’d acquired as a reporter when he returned home to Arkansas and began writing fiction. He graduated from the university in 1958 with a degree in journalism.Īfter graduating, Portis began his career as a reporter, working first for the Arkansas Gazette and then at the New York Herald Tribune. Following his military service he attended the University of Arkansas and wrote for the student newspaper, the Arkansas Traveler. He enlisted in the Marine Corps, serving as an infantryman and reaching the rank of sergeant during the Korean War before his discharge in 1955. Portis, the author best known for his 1968 Western novel “True Grit,” passed away on February 17, 2020.īorn in December 1933 in El Dorado, Arkansas, Portis spent his childhood in southern Arkansas. President, I want to pay tribute to an Arkansas veteran who was one of the state’s most famous sons, literary icon Charles Portis.
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