"Laura Richards" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Laura Richard or Laura Richardson. Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards Portrait of Laura E. Richards.jpg Born February 27, 1850 74 Mount Vernon Street Boston, Massachusetts Died January 14, 1943 (aged 92) Gardiner, Maine Notable awards 1917 Pulitzer Prize Spouse Henry Richards Children 7 (Alice Maud, Rosalind, Henry Howe, Julia Ward, Maud, John, Laura Elizabeth) Relatives Samuel Gridley Howe, father Julia Ward Howe, mother Maud Howe Elliott, sister Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards (February 27, 1850 - January 14, 1943) was an American writer. She wrote more than 90 books including biographies, poetry, and several for children. One well-known children's poem is her literary nonsense verse "Eletelephony", which is adapted into an animated segment (Vowel Letter Poem: E - Elephant) produced by Jeff Hale, and his animation studio, Imagination, Inc., for the television show Sesame Street.Laura Elizabeth Howe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 27, 1850. Her father was Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an abolitionist and the founder of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind. 1] She was named after his famous deaf-blind pupil Laura Bridgman. citation needed] Her mother Julia Ward Howe wrote the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic. In 1871 Laura married Henry Richards. He would accept a management position in 1876 at his family's paper mill at Gardiner, Maine, where the couple moved with their three children. In 1917 Laura won a Pulitzer Prize for Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910, a biography, which she co-authored with her sister, Maud Howe Elliott. She died on January 14, 1943.