"When people ask me if it has been a hard or easy road, I always answer with the quotation, 'The end is nothing, the road is all.'"
- Personal interview
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Spring Conference Registration
Willa Cather in the McClure Magazine days, 1906-12. The 57th annual Willa Cather Spring Conference and the one-day scholarly symposium preceding it will be focused on Cather the poet, on poetry, and on today's poets from the Great Plains region. Cather's close readers have long noted her sharp presentation of herself as prairie poet with "Prairie Spring" at the beginning of her "real" first novel, O Pioneers!, yet her actual first book, April Twilights (1903), and its contexts, have received much less critical attention. In much the same way, the scholarly edition of Cather's Poems, now in preparation, will be among the last volumes published in that series by the University of Nebraska Press.

Willa Cather Spring Conference & Scholarly Symposium

May 31 - June 2, 2012

Red Cloud, Nebraska

Willa Cather, Poet: Making Herself Born

Please CLICK HERE to register or become a sponsor.


A detailed schedule of events will be available at registration.
Meals will be on your own Friday.


Thursday, Friday, & Saturday

Inspired by April Twilights Exhibit, Gallery

Portraits of the Prairie: The Land That Inspired Willa Cather Exhibit by Richard Schilling, Auditorium

Complimentary tours of Cather sites will be available to registrants at 9:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 3:00 p.m., Bookstore

Thursday, May 31

8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Registration, Bookstore
8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Symposium, Presentation of scholarly papers by a diverse group of Cather scholars, Auditorium
5:00 p.m. Dinner on your own
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. "Pints & Notes," Burlington Depot

Friday, June 1
8:00- 5:00 p.m. Registration, Bookstore

10:15 a.m. -10:30 a.m. Welcome and Orientation with Robert Thacker, Auditorium

10:30 a.m. -10:45 a.m. Remarks by Thomas Reese Gallagher, Willa Cather Foundation Vice-President and Leslie Levy, Willa Cather Foundation Executive Director, Auditorium

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. 26th Annual Presentation of the Norma Ross Walter Scholarship, Virgil Albertini, Auditorium

12:15 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Lunch on your own

1:45 p.m.-3:15 p.m. The Nebraska Presence Poets with Mary K. Stillwell, Auditorium

Simultaneous Activities:

3:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Poetry Documentary: Louder Than A Bomb, Auditorium

3:45 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Nature in Cather's Poetry & Prairie Walk, Willa Cather Memorial Prairie


5:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m. Dinner on your own

7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Artist Reception for April Twilights & Portraits of the Prairie Exhibits, Auditorium & Gallery

8:00 p.m. Sarah Harvey and Antonio Donofrio present . . .

"Singing Cather's Poems"

"L'Envoi" and "Evening Song" by Willa Cather set to original compositions, Auditorium

Saturday, June 2
8:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m. Kolache and coffee; Registration

8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. Church service, Historic Grace Episcopal Church

10:00 a.m.-11:45 a.m. The Passing Show: "Willa Cather: Making Herself Born" with Mark Madigan and Robert Thacker, with a poetry reading by Lora Black from Nebraska Public Radio, Auditorium

12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. P.E.O. salad luncheon and introduction of the Board of Governors, Auditorium

1:20 p.m.-4:30 p.m. A variety of readings, discussions, and workshops will be led by Cather scholars. (A detailed schedule will be available at registration.)

6:00 p.m.-7:15 p.m. Banquet, Red Cloud Women's Chamber of Commerce, Auditorium

7:30 p.m.-9:00 p.m. The Apollon Theatre presents . . .

"Out of the Lips of Silence"

A movement and multi-media piece inspired by Willa Cather's poem "Prairie Spring," Auditorium



Call for Papers and Invitation to Participate

Willa Cather, Poet: Making Herself Born

The 2012 Spring Conference will be a lively celebration of poets and poetry on the Great Plains with readings and performances, discussions, and a "Passing Show" panel devoted to Cather as a writer who began as a poet and then established herself as a writer of prose both luminous and poetic. The one-day scholarly symposium preceding the conference (Thursday, May 31) will focus on Cather as an engaged fin de siècle poet-aesthete intent on making her mark in literature. Possible paper topics include:

• Cather and 19th Century Poetry and Poetics
• Periodical Publication, the making of April Twilights
• Cather, Poetry, and Pittsburgh
• Cather and Housman or Other Comparisons
• Cather's Poetry and McClure's Magazine
April Twilights as a Richard G. Badger Volume
• Revising April Twilights into April Twilights and Other Poems (1923)
• Cather and the Poetic Throughout the Fiction

Proposals, inquiries, and expressions of interest should be sent by February 15, 2012 to:

Robert Thacker
Canadian Studies Program
St. Lawrence University
Canton, New York 13617
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