Willa Cather

Willa Cather was a prominent American author, born on December 7, 1873, in Back Creek Valley, Virginia. She spent her formative years in Virginia and Nebraska before attending the University of Nebraska. Initially, Cather planned to pursue a career in medicine, but her interest in writing led her to become a regular contributor to the Nebraska State Journal. This shift led her to change her major, and she eventually graduated with a bachelor's degree in English in 1894.

Cather's professional journey began in Pittsburgh, where she worked as a writer for various publications and as a school teacher for around 13 years. However, it was her novels on frontier life that brought her to national recognition. In 1923, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, 'One of Ours' (1922), which is set during World War I. Cather was known for her vivid descriptions and characterizations of the Great Plains, which were inspired by her experiences in Nebraska. She spent her later years traveling widely and often spent summers in New Brunswick, Canada.

Despite her success, Cather faced negative criticism for her conservative politics in later life and became reclusive. She even went as far as burning some of her letters and personal papers, including her last manuscript. Cather's contributions to American literature were recognized in 1943 when she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1944, she received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, an award given once a decade for an author's total accomplishments. Cather passed away on April 24, 1947, in New York City due to a cerebral haemorrhage.