Literary Arts: Saul Bellow Stamps

2024 Saul Bellow – Literary Arts Series
• The 34th stamp in the Literary Arts series
• Honors award-winning novelist Saul Bellow

Stamp Category: Commemorative
Series: Literary Arts
Value: $1.16 Three-Ounce Mail Rate
First Day of Issue: February 6, 2024
First Day City: Chicago, Illinois
Printing Method: Offset, Microprint
Format: Panes of 20
Tagging: Phosphor, Block Tag

History the stamp represents: Saul Bellow (1915-2005) was born in Quebec, Canada, to Jewish immigrants from Russia. Even from a young age, he loved to read. His favorites included the Torah, Shakespeare, 19th-century Russian novels, and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It’s said this book was what inspired Bellow to become a writer.

At age nine, Bellow and his family moved to Chicago, the backdrop for many of his novels. For college, Bellow wanted to study literature, but experienced antisemitism in the English department at Northwestern University, leading him to study anthropology and sociology instead.

While serving in World War II, Bellow finished his first novel (Dangling Man) in 1944. He received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 1948 and moved to Paris for several years before eventually making his way back to Chicago. His novel Herzog (1964) was his first bestseller, and it earned him the International Literary Prize the following year. He was the first American to receive the award.

Bellow’s novels went on to earn him many prestigious awards, including the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2024, he was pictured on the 34th postage stamp in the US Literary Arts Series. He truly was one of America’s greatest writers.