Oct 5, 2021 | Graves, Literary Landscapes, Novelists, Volume 4
WILLA CATHER Old Burying GroundJaffrey, New Hampshire By Catherine Seiberling Pond In her first known correspondence from Jaffrey, New Hampshire, Willa Cather wrote to her brother Roscoe on a postcard from the Shattuck Inn, “I am working well in this lovely country.”...
Oct 5, 2021 | Illinois, Literary Landscapes, Novelists, Schools, Volume 4
WILLA CATHER The Fine Arts BuildingChicago, Illinois By Jesse Raber Chicago isn’t an iconic setting for Willa Cather, the great novelist of the prairies. Yet, in a sense, during Cather’s time Chicago writing was prairie writing. When H.L. Mencken crowned...
Oct 5, 2021 | Indiana, Literary Landscapes, Novelists, Volume 3
KURT VONNEGUT The Kurt Vonnegut Museum & LibraryIndianapolis, IN By Laura Beadling Like many, I found and loved Kurt Vonnegut somewhere in my miserable teenage years. Slaughterhouse-Five is now one of my favorite novels to teach, whether in Great American Books or...
Oct 5, 2021 | Author Houses, Literary Landscapes, Novelists, Oklahoma, Volume 3, Writers of Color
JOHN JOSEPH MATHEWS Tallgrass Prairie PreserveOsage County, Oklahoma By Mason Whitehorn Powell “Three ridges roughly boat-shaped push their prows south into the sea of prairie.” The opening lines of Talking to the Moon by Osage author John Joseph...
Sep 17, 2021 | Literary Landscapes, Missouri, Nonfiction, Novelists, Personal Essay, Volume 2, Writers of Color
William Least Heat-Moon River-Horse PavilionColumbia, Missouri By Kit Salter In March 1995, my wife Cathy and I went to wish Godspeed to Columbia, Missouri, resident William Lewis Trogdon as he was leaving for New York City to begin a 103-day nautical journey, which...
Sep 17, 2021 | Author Houses, Literary Landscapes, Missouri, Novelists, Personal Essay, Volume 2
Kate Chopin 4232 McPherson AvenueSt. Louis, Missouri By Michaella A. Thornton The Central West End neighborhood where Kate Chopin spent her final year boasts some of the loveliest homes in St. Louis, Missouri. Dormers and cornices and stained glass, lush gardens...
