Willa Cather -- born in Back Creek, Virginia, in 1873 -- was nine when she and her family moved to Red Cloud, Nebraska.
She grew up on the plains -- and the plains grew into her as she did. This 1913 novel -- the story of an immigrant family's struggle to save their Nebraska farm -- grew out of her and of course, through her: there's a reason that this -- Cather's second novel -- is the famous book it has become. Cather attended the University of Nebraska and worked six years on the editorial staff at McClure's Magazine in New York City; she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for One of Ours.