Complex and Brilliant: Cather at 150

The 68th annual Willa Cather Spring Conference, held during Willa Cather’s sesquicentennial year, provides an opportunity to pay homage to the author’s life and legacy here in Nebraska. Just as Cather wrote about the “certain qualities of feeling and imagination” possessed by Nebraska’s early immigrant homesteaders in her essay, “Nebraska: The End of the First Cycle,” Cather’s 150th birthday will will commemorated by examining the evolution of her own writerly imagination. This conference will also examine Cather’s novel A Lost Lady, which celebrates its publication centenary in 2023, and other texts that Cather published in 1923, such as her revised book of poetry, April Twilights and Other Poems.

The conference will begin the morning of Thursday, June 1, and conclude on the evening of Saturday, June 3. Please see the conference website for the schedule of events.

Registration is required. In-person registration ($150 / $75 student) includes the full schedule, with a separate ticket needed for the Saturday evening banquet. Online-only registration ($100 / $50 student) includes access to all paper panels, the scholarship ceremony, the Passing Show, and invited speaker events.