Koenig (Laird) papers, 1931-2017, bulk bulk 1970s-2017

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Summary

Title:
Laird Koenig papers
Dates:
1931-2017, bulk bulk 1970s-2017
Creators:
Koenig, Laird
Abstract:
Papers of American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter Laird Koenig.
Extent:
4.5 Linear Feet (8 document boxes, 2 half-size document boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Laird Koenig papers, PA Mss 148. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains the papers of American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter Laird Koenig, including personal and biographical items, editorial correspondence, and manuscripts to works both published and unpublished. The bulk of the materials range from the 1970s to 2017.

Personal and biographical materials include clippings and memorabilia from Koenig's years at the University of Washington, selected reviews of his works, and family correspondence dating to the early 1970s.

Editorial correspondence and manuscripts document Koenig's literary career. Editorial correspondence includes letters from publishers, agents, and colleagues. Interspersed within the correspondence files are clippings (including reviews of his work), programs, playbills, and ephemera. Original manuscripts (some with handwritten annotations) cover both published and unpublished works and include novels, plays, and screenplays.

Biographical / historical:

American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter Laird Koenig (September 24, 1927-June 30, 2023) was born in Seattle, Washington. Koenig attended the University of Washington, worked in advertising in New York City, and moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s, where he began his literary career writing novels, plays, and screenplays. Koenig's work gained international success in England, Germany, and France, and beginning in the 1970s, he spent time living and working in France. He returned to the United States in 1996, settling in Santa Barbara, California until his passing in 2023.

Koenig's early novels include The Children Are Watching (co-written with Peter L. Dixon, 1970) and The Little Girl Who Lives down the Lane (1974). In 1976, Koenig adapted his novel The Little Girl Who Lives down the Lane into a film. Directed by Nicolas Gessner and starring Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen, the film would earn Koenig a Saturn Award nomination for best screenplay. Attention, Les Enfants Regardent, a French film adaption of The Children Are Watching, was released in 1978. Based on a screenplay adapted from the novel by Laird Koenig and Peter Dixon, the film was directed by Serge Leroy and produced by Alain Delon, who also starred in the leading role as "The Man."

Other novels written by Koenig include The Neighbor (1978), Rockabye (1981), and Rising Sun (1986). He also wrote episodes for the television series Flipper (1970) and High Chaparral (1970), as well as screenplays for Red Sun,Bloodline,Inchon, and many others.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Laird Koenig, 2019.
Arrangement:

The collection has been arranged by topic into three series:

  • Series 1: Personal/Biographical
  • Series 2: Editorial correspondence
  • Series 3: Manuscripts

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Zachary Liebhaber, 2019; updated 2023. Finding aid updated by Rebecca Vasquez, January 2026.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-01-23 12:21:30 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and may be retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.

All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@library.ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or their assignees for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Laird Koenig papers, PA Mss 148. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
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