American Voice: An Evening With Willa Cather

"The end is nothing, the road is all.” – Willa Cather, 'Old Mrs. Harris'

This program will be held in-person at the Newberry in partnership with the National Willa Cather Center.

Willa Cather was one of the most singular American novelists of the 20th century. She broke new ground as an artist by emphasizing ordinary lives and struggles, lending dignity and significance to her characters’ inner worlds. Behind the appearance of serenity in her stories, however, stands a complex writer of conflict who was doubtful of even the possibility of knowing anything for certain.

Join us for an evening of selections from Willa Cather’s fiction, criticism, and letters, curated by Peter Cipkowski of the National Willa Cather Center and featuring Mary Ringstad and David Skidmore, actors from The Shakespeare Project of Chicago.

Following the program, guests will be invited to view items from the Newberry collections related to Cather, her life, and her works.

This program is free and open to all. Advance registration required.

Registration opens May 1.

About the Photo

William Morrison, Haymarket Theatre, 1895. Photographic portrait of Willa Cather, who had traveled to Chicago from Lincoln for a week of opera and theater. Morrison was well-known as a photographer of artists, with his studio located in the theater. Here Cather wears an elaborate hat and bison-trimmed cape.