Mike McGrady

Mike McGrady (1933–2012) was a columnist and author best known for organizing one of the most famous literary hoaxes of the twentieth century with Naked Came the Stranger (1969). Born in New York City, he studied at Yale University under Robert Penn Warren, then joined Newsday in 1962 after a stint in the army. Inspired by the success of steamy bestsellers like Valley of the Dolls, McGrady challenged his fellow Newsday reporters to write a book so smutty and badly written that it would become a surefire hit. Two dozen writers contributed scenes and published Naked Came the Stranger under the penname Penelope Ashe. The book sold twenty thousand copies before McGrady and his fellow authors revealed the hoax, and it went on to become a cult classic. McGrady wrote fifteen books under his own name, including A Dove in Vietnam (1968) and The Kitchen Sink Papers (1975), a bestselling account of a year spent as a stay-at-home dad.