Portrait of the day: Patricia Highsmith

Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short-story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers. She was born on January 19, 1921, in Texas. In 1927, her family moved to New York City. She was a resolute atheist. She fiercely criticized America's cultural structure and foreign policy in the 20th century. She wrote suspense, psychological thriller, crime fiction, and romance books.

She dedicated her novel entitled The Talented Mr. Ripley Kurdish and Palestinian freedom fighters. She died on February 4, 1995, at 74, from a combination of aplastic anemia and lung cancer in Locarno, Switzerland.