Author Snapshot Bio: Willa Cather
Author Snapshot Biography of Willa Cather
Willa Cather was born in Virginia and buried in New Hampshire. For most of her life in between her birth in 1873 and her death in 1947, she lived in Nebraska. Eventually Cather attended the University of Nebraska, where two key things happened in her life: she began writing fiction and she became a journalist covering the drama beat.
After college she went through several careers: journalist, high school teacher, and editor. To launch her career as an editor, she moved to New York, where she worked for McLure's Magazine. It was around this time that she published "The Troll Garden", which was her first collection of short stories. Cather wrote two novels shortly after quitting her job as editor of McLure's. these novels were "Alexander's Bridge" and "O Pioneers!"
Cather called "O Pioneers!" her first original work. She meant that all of her other work "resembled" the work of authors she admired, but "O Pioneers" was completely in her own voice. Most of her early work was set in Nebraska. Over time she decided to avoid being typecast as a writer for the West, and branched out to write about other locales. Among these were Michigan, of the American Southwest and parts of Canada.
Much of Cathers work remained light in tone. Toward the end of her life, for work became much darker. It started to have an almost dramatically Gothic feel, like the work of William Faulkner. She wrote until the day she died, in spite of health problems that plague her making it difficult to write. In fact, she was working on an unfinished novel on the day she died.
Cather lived with her friend Edith Lewis for 38 years. She was incredibly loyal to her friends and family. Many great writers slave away for little to no recognition all their lives. Not only was Willa Cather rewarded with recognition and awards while she was still alive, her books have never gone out of print. The fact the issue remains this popular even after death speaks volumes about the calibre of her work. She has become known as America's premier female writer.
Accolades and Awards:
The Pulitzer Prize winner for "One of Ours" and "A Lost Lady"
Honorary degrees from universities all across the United States
An American Academy medal for "Death Comes for the Archbishop"
A lifetime achievement medal from the National Institute of Arts and Letters
Where else you can read about Willa Cather:
Cather page at University Nebraska
Get Your Own Copies of Willa Cather's Books
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