Grace Sorenson was born in Omaha, the daughter of journalist and historian Alfred R. Sorenson, who had come to Omaha from Chicago in 1871. She belonged to a literary family; Blanche Sorenson, a sister, pursued a career in music and journalism.
Grace Sorenson’s special talent was juvenile literature – children’s plays and stories, published copies of which are in the Nebraska State Historical Society Library/Archives. From 1900 to 1906 Sorenson edited a magazine for schoolchildren entitled The Children of the United States. It consisted of literary contributions by children from around the country.
In 1914 Grace Sorenson founded Every Child’s Magazine in Omaha, serving as publisher and editor until 1932. One of her most enthusiastic supporters was her father, in 1914 the publisher and editor of the weekly Omaha Examiner. Alfred Sorenson’s promotion of Every Child’s Magazine in The Examiner and in his 1923 history of Omaha, kept his daughter’s name before the public and helped her magazine achieve international circulation.
Besides short stories for Every Child’s, Miss Sorenson wrote a number of books of children’s plays and a book of poems entitled Homemade Jingles (1908). She was an active member of the Nebraska Writers Guild for most of her career.
Grace Sorenson was not only a recognized writer of children’s stories but a teller of children’s stories as well. She presented story-telling programs to women’s clubs and other groups and for a time served as the “Story Teller Lady” at WOW Radio in Omaha. She died in 1952.
