Willa Cather

Willa Cather was born on December 7, 1873, the first of seven children to Charles and Mary Cather. She spent her childhood at Willowshade, the family farm in Virginia . Cather enjoyed the freedom of a rural lifestyle, with much of her time spent outdoors. In 1883, the family moved to Red Cloud, Nebraska , leaving behind the farm for a life on the western frontier. Cather missed Willowshade, and the experience of having to leave it behind left her feeling resentful of change.

Red Cloud was a town populated by immigrants from all over the world: Russia, Poland, Germany, Sweden, and others. She forged friendships with foreign-born girls her own age, and her experiences on the frontier living among immigrants would later inform the themes of some of her novels.

At an early age, Cather decided she wanted to become a medical doctor, but that ambition changed as she aged. Cather began her career as a writer in 1891, when she entered the University of Nebraska. There she excelled at journalism and short story writing, and her first published piece appeared in the prestigious Boston magazine. Upon publication, Cather realized writing was her gift, and she devoted herself completely to the craft.

After graduating in 1865, Cather briefly wrote for a newspaper in Lincoln, Nebraska, before moving to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . There she took a job as editor for a magazine called Home Monthly. Before long, she moved over to the Pittsburgh Daily Leader, a newspaper that employed her as copy editor and music/drama critic.

Becomes a serious writer

Cather gave up news writing to become a teacher in 1901. During this time, she met Isabelle McClung, daughter of a prominent Pittsburgh judge. The two formed a relationship that would last a lifetime, and Cather was later known to have said that every book she ever wrote was for McClung. Historians have long speculated on the nature of Cather's and McClung's relationship, and many believe the two were lovers. Cather's longest relationship was with her companion Edith Lewis; the two women were together for more than forty years.

McClung's wealth allowed Cather to write without the strain of having to earn a living. They traveled together to Europe in 1902, and the trip was followed by the publication of a book of poetry titled April Twilights in 1903. A collection of short stories, The Troll Garden, was published in 1905, and the two books came to the attention of S. S. McClure (1857–1949), publisher of the popular McClure's magazine. He gave Cather a job as managing editor in 1906, a position that allowed the writer to become part of the blossoming literary world rooted in the New York City neighborhood of Greenwich Village. Cather kept her job with the magazine until 1912, when she resigned to write fiction.

That same year, Cather published her first novel, Alexander's Masquerade, which established the frontier theme that would weave its way into her other novels. Her next novel, O Pioneers!, was a literary success. Again, the story involved farm life and prairie scenes reminiscent of Cather's childhood experiences.

Cather's best known novel, My Antonia, was published in 1918. She followed that with two more titles by 1927, and by that time was recognized as a moral writer who embraced traditional values while writing about a world of changing standards and shifting morality. Though lesser known than some of her other works, One of Ours earned Cather the Pulitzer Prize in 1922.

Cather's later years were spent in New York City, where she established friendships with artists and musicians. She continued publishing novels and short stories until 1936. For her work, she was awarded the Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1930, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters gold medal for fiction in 1944. In 1962, Cather became the first woman inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame. She was voted into the Hall of Great Westerners in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma , in 1974 and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York , in 1988.

Cather died on April 24, 1947, at the age of seventy-three. The Nebraska State Historical Society established the Willa Cather Historical Center in 1978. The Center includes the author's childhood home as well as other buildings connected to her writing.