Author. He gained fame as a prolific American author who published over 100 books of poetry and prose, with most having the theme of nature and animals. He was also a lecturer. To succeed in his career, he had to overcome his physical disabilities along with his family's poverty. At the age of nine, he had a left below-the-knee amputation after an accident, and at the age of 13, he became totally blind after a gun discharged in his face during a hunting accident. He had six surgeries on his eyes following the accident without a cure. With Helen Keller being his colleague, he was educated at Perkins School for the Blind graduating in 1890. After graduation, he studied law and public speaking. In 1899, he married Bessie Bell, a book illustrator, who illustrated his first book of poetry, "Pebbles and Shells" in 1895. Besides "Pebbles and Shells," he published "The Hope of the World and Other Poems" in 1900, "Stories of the Good Green Wood" in 1904, "Field and Forest Friends: A Boy's World and How He Discovered It" in 1913, and "Dapples of the Circus: The Story of a Shetland Pony and a Boy" in 1925 to name a few. His 1902 collection of stories about his dog, "Master Frisky," has been digitized and can be found online. In 1915, Hawkes published an autobiography, "Hitting a Dark Trail: A Story of Blindness and Its Triumphs." The book was translated into French to aid thousands of blinded post-World War I soldiers. In 1924, he also published "A Gentleman from France: An Airedale Hero." Helen Keller wrote much about him in her publications including a three-page essay in "Psychology." Author James Freeman published the 2009 biography, "Clarence Hawkes: America's Blind Naturalist and the World he Lived."