Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) Author. Porter's first volume of stories, Flowering Judas (1930), impressed critics, won a Guggenheim fellowship that allowed her to study abroad. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim. She is known for her penetrating insight; her work deals with dark themes such as betrayal, death and the origin of human evil. Her book, Flowering Judas, Modern Library edition, 1963, signed on the title page “Happy Birthday and many returns! To Ray Zimmerman Katherine Anne Porter September 1970”. The dust jacket has some rubbing, price clipped.