Author: Willa Cather

Willa Sibert Cather (1873–1947), one of America’s most beloved authors, is best known for her novels depicting the lives of people who settled the American heartland and the Southwest: O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, A Lost Lady, and Death Comes for the Archbishop. Her life, like her writing, crisscrossed much of the United States. Born in Virginia, Cather grew up in Nebraska and graduated from the University of Nebraska. She then worked as a journalist and as a teacher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before moving to New York City in 1906 where she lived the rest of her life, though she continued to make long visits back to the Midwest, the Southwest, and California. 

The Burglar’s Christmas

Willa Cather
The parable of the Prodigal Son has a special resonance at Christmas. Willa Cather’s (1873–1947) “The Burglar’s Christmas” (published under the pseudonym Elizabeth Seymour in 1896) tells a similar story of homecoming, but with a twist.

The Namesake

Willa Cather

This story (1907) by Willa Cather (1873–1947) is about how an American expatriate discovers the meaning of his home country. Lyon Hartwell, the son of an American artist, born abroad and now himself a sculptor living in Paris, habitually entertains his fellow Americans, all the while working on a memorial statue of his late uncle, his namesake, who was killed in the Civil War while still in his teens. 

The Namesake

Willa Cather

This story (1907) by Willa Cather (1873–1947) is about how an American expatriate discovers the meaning of his home country.