Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson (1905-2002) was an American journalist and writer of children's books. She wrote some of the earliest Nancy Drew mysteries and created the detective's adventurous personality. Benson wrote under the Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name, Carolyn Keene, from 1929 to 1947 and contributed to twenty-three of the first thirty Nancy Drew mysteries, which were bestsellers.
