John Kennedy Toole was born on December 17, 1937, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a talented and inventive writer, although he was not widely recognized during his lifetime. Toole served in the U.S. Army, teaching English to Spanish-speaking recruits. He later pursued graduate education at Columbia University. His struggle to find success with his literary works, including 'A Confederacy of Dunces', led to his battle with depression. Toole took his own life on March 26, 1969. His work would go on to earn broad acclaim after his mother succeeded in getting his novel published posthumously, with the book eventually winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981.