Book Club Resources

The National Willa Cather Center can provide materials for your book club or reading group! Click on the blocks below to access discussion questions, activities, or images to share. 

We would also love to welcome your book club to Cather’s hometown!

Take a tour of the town that raised Cather and peek into historical sites that deeply influenced the prolific writer. Sites include Cather’s childhood home, the inspiration for the opening scene of Song of the Lark and “Old Mrs. Harris.” The Burlington Depot, the setting for many short stories such as “The Sculptor’s Funeral” and “Death in the Desert.” The Miner Family home, where the prototype for Ántonia Shimerda, Annie Sadilek, lived and the Catholic Church where she baptized her baby. Each site is connected to one of Willa’s works, whether it influenced the landscape or the characters of her writing.

Read excerpts from your book club pick amongst the grasses of our Willa Cather Memorial Prairie.

Stay in the Cather family’s Second Home with your book club; the location where Willa often returned to visit her family and friends. 

If your group can’t make it to Red Cloud, we would love to come to you! Take a virtual tour of the historic sites through our website or the Willa Cather app. Otherwise, contact a member of the National Willa Cather Center to come share the life of Willa Cather and offer insights into her writing at your book club.

Please contact Rachel Olsen, Director of Education and Engagement  at rolsen@willacather.org to schedule a guest speaker for your book club meeting or to make special arrangements for a book club visit to Red Cloud.