Cather, Willa Sibert (1873-1947)

US novelist and short-story writer. Her novels frequently explore life in the pioneer West, both in her own time and in past eras; for example, O Pioneers! (1913) and My Antonia (1918), and A Lost Lady (1923). Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) is a celebration of the spiritual pioneering of the Catholic Church in New Mexico. She also wrote poetry and essays on fiction.

Cather was born in a small farming community in Virginia. Educated at the University of Nebraska, she edited a magazine in Pittsburgh, writing short stories to help fill its pages. Later she became managing editor of McClure magazine. In 1912 she left to concentrate on her writing. She ordered that her letters should be burned at her death.