1. Willa Cather 1873-1947

2.  Willa Cather was born in rural Virginia, the first of seven children.  When she was nine, her and her family moved out west and settled in Webster County, Nebraska.  She excelled in school, though teachers recognized her as a “noncomformist.”

3.  Cather attended the University of Nebraska and became a regular contributor to a Lincoln newspaper.  After graduating she moved to Pittsburgh and worked as a journalist for a decade.  She published her first book, April Twilights in 1903.  This was followed by The Troll Garden, a collection of short stories that contained “A Wagner Matinee.”

4.  In 1906, Cather moved to New York to be a writer and editor for the magazine McClure’s. She resigned in 1912 to devote her time to writing full-time.  Cather wrote for several more years, even earning a Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for her novel One of Ours.