Willa Cather (1873-1947)

Born in Virginia’s Back Creek Valley in 1873, Cather was 9 years old when her
family moved to Red Cloud, Neb., where she drew inspiration for some of her most
famous works—O Pioneers!, 1913; and My √Åntonia, 1918—about life on the
American frontier.

James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)

Cooper, who grew up in Cooperstown, N.Y., is best known for his five-book
Leatherstocking series, including The Last of the Mohicans, first published in
1826. In his frontier tales, Cooper introduces the first American hero, Natty
Bumppo, a white child raised by Delaware Indians who matures into an
adventurous, honorable and fearless woodsman.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

One of the nation’s most prolific poets, Dickinson wrote nearly 1,800 poems while
leading a reclusive life at her family’s home in Amherst, Mass. Few of Dickinson’s
poems about art, gardens, joy, love, death and grief were published during her
lifetime, and most of her work was discovered in her bedroom after her death.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

An ordained minister, Boston-born Emerson was a philosopher, essayist and poet
whose insightful prose explored the mind of man and his relationship with nature.
Emerson’s uniquely American vision and writing style is illustrated in the 1836
essay Nature and the 1841 essay Self-Reliance.

William Faulkner (1897-1962)

The Nobel Prize-winning novelist and short story writer depicted the people,
history and settings of his native Mississippi in most of his works, including the
literary classics The Sound and the Fury, 1929; Absalom, Absalom!, 1936; Go Down,
Moses, 1942; and The Reivers, 1962.
 F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
A native of St. Paul, Minn., Fitzgerald wrote novels and short stories about the
optimism, aspirations and excesses of the Jazz Age, including This Side of Paradise,
1920; The Beautiful and the Damned, 1922; and The Great Gatsby, his 1925
masterpiece. While sales of its initial printing were disappointing, The Great
Gatsby is considered among the greatest novels of the 20th century.

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Born in San Francisco, the four-time Pulitzer Prize winner wrote much of his
poetry about rural New England. Some of his best-known poems—”After Apple-
Picking,” “Mending Wall,” “Birches,” “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods
on a Snowy Evening”—were inspired by his life and observations in Massachusetts,
New Hampshire and Vermont.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

Known for his stories about sin, guilt and witchcraft in Puritan New England, the
Salem, Mass.-born Hawthorne is revered for his 1837 short story
collection, Twice-Told Tales; his 1850 masterpiece The Scarlet Letter; and the
1851 classic The House of the Seven Gables.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

Considered among the best writers of his generation, the Oak Park, Ill., native is
renowned for his action-packed stories about boxing, bullfighting, big-game
hunting, fishing, war and human relationships, including the novels The Sun
Also Rises,
1926; A Farewell to Arms, 1929; For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940;
and The
Old Man and the Sea, 1952.

Washington Irving (1783-1859)

One of the earliest American fiction writers, New York City-born Irving wrote the
famous and timeless tales Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, first
published in 1819 and 1820, respectively.
 Harper Lee (1926- )
To Kill a Mockingbird is her only published novel, winning the
Monroeville, Ala., native the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the
best-seller about 1930s race relations in the South.

Jack London (1876-1916)

Drawing on his experiences as a sailor, gold prospector and adventurer, San
Francisco-born London wrote a profusion of stirring stories, including tales about
canines in the frozen North and voyages on the high seas in his best-selling
novels: The Call of the Wild, 1903; The Sea-Wolf, 1904; and White Fang, 1906.

Herman Melville (1819-1891)

New York City-born Melville is best remembered for his 1851 masterpiece Moby-
Dick, an epic novel about a ferocious whale that destroys a whaling ship, its
vengeful captain and crew.

Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949)

Atlanta-born Mitchell authored Gone with the Wind, the best-selling romantic
novel set in the Civil War South. Published in 1936, the novel won the 1937
Pulitzer Prize and since has sold more than 30 million copies.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

A literary critic in his time, Boston-born Poe may have been the nation’s first
published horror, mystery and science fiction writer. Poe wrote eerie, grim and
cryptic tales exemplified in his 1839 short story “The Fall of the House of Usher,”
1843 short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” and 1845 poem “The Raven.”
 J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)
Salinger’s 1951 The Catcher in the Rye is one of the best-selling
American novels of all time, with more than 65 million copies sold.
Though the only full-length novel by the New York City-born writer,
the once scandalous story about teenage angst, rebellion and lust
remains a standard in American literature curriculum.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968)

A native of Salinas, Calif., the Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning author
captured the social conscience of the nation with his captivating stories about
California’s various ethnic and immigrant groups, migrant workers and displaced
sharecroppers. Among his best works are Of Mice and Men, 1937; The Grapes of
Wrath, 1939; and East of Eden, 1952.

Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862)

An author, philosopher and naturalist, the Concord, Mass., native is best known
for his writings about independence, spiritual discovery and self-reliance
depicted in his 1849 essay “Civil Disobedience” and 1854 book, Walden, written
about a two-year retreat to the woods near Walden Pond.

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Born Samuel Clemens in Florida, Mo., Twain was inspired to write his classic
novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876, and Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn, 1884, based on his childhood experiences in Hannibal, Mo., and his job as
a Mississippi River steamboat pilot. Known for his witty and satirical prose, and
the colloquial dialogue of his characters, Twain has been dubbed the Father of
American Literature.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

One of America’s greatest poets, the West Hills, N.Y.-born Whitman is best known
for Leaves of Grass, his Emerson-inspired 1855 poetry collection, and his 1865 poem
“O Captain! My Captain!” about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.