2005 One Book One Nebraska
My Ántonia by Willa Cather
The
Cather Foundation is pleased to help initiate the first One Book/One
State project in Nebraska. My Ántonia by Willa Cather is an excellent
choice for the first state reading project. It is an exceptionally
successful novel, so successful, in fact, that the book was chosen by
the city of Chicago in 2002 for their One Book/One City project. In
addition, it is a Nebraska book by a Nebraska author. It details the
history of homesteading and the making of community in Nebraska;
however, it transcends Nebraska to become a story of the making of
communities all across America. Thus it is a book that citizens
throughout the nation have come to cherish. It truly is a book that all
Nebraskans should read, discuss in community settings, and enjoy. This
novel employs the art of storytelling and the stories are about us;
these stories provide a glimpse into our past and are guideposts to our
future.
In My Ántonia, Willa Cather affirms that memory (in the form of stories) is one of the “materials out of which countries are made.” Cather suggests through her emphasis on stories that these memories are, in fact, central building blocks to forming a civilization and that the store of memories must be common to the body of people who inhabit a country. Further she proposes that these stories need to be passed on from generation to generation as building blocks for the future. Memories in the form of literature, indeed, do not come in the form of time-lines, dates, and facts; they come instead in the form of human experiences told in the context of storytelling.
These ideas are central to the activities of the One Book/One State: My Ántonia project and to the 50th Anniversary of the Cather Foundation to be celebrated at the Spring Festival on April 29-30, 2005, to be held at the Cather Center in Red Cloud, Nebraska. This conference may, in fact, play an additional role in providing a venue for those reading My Ántonia to gather additional information about the book and participate in the celebration of Willa Cather, the Foundation, and the novel.
Resources
- Find a copy of this book @ your library®
- Borrow a book club kit (libraries and media centers only) from the Nebraska Library Commission or any of the six Regional Library Systems
- Press release [pdf] — Willa Cather Foundation
- View the proclamation
- Poster, small graphic format “Prairie Song” by artist Mary Linnea Vaughan; graphic designer by Ellen Lincoln; produced by Cornhusker Press in Hastings; billboards supported by Lamar Corporation
- Discussion questions for high school students [pdf]
- Discussion questions for community groups [pdf]
- Discussion questions, cafeteria style [pdf]
- Calendar of events [pdf]
- Curriculum Courtesy the Willa Cather Foundation
Featured Artist: Mary Vaughan
“Prairie Song,” an acrylic painting by Mary Linnea Vaughan, is the
central image chosen for promotional materials for the One Book One
State Nebraska Reads My Ántonia project to be completed in the spring of
2005. The painting was inspired by the countryside around Red Cloud,
Nebraska, in the summer of 2004. This is the same countryside that
inspired Willa Cather to write my My Ántonia.
“Prairie Song” was one of several paintings completed in an artist-in-residence project sponsored by the Willa Cather Foundation and the Nebraska Arts Council. Mary Linnea Vaughan, a native Nebraskan, now lives in Santa Rosa, California, where she works as a professional artist. Mary is a landscape painter and is interested in the earth and organic forms. She has an MFA from Maine College of Art and an MA from Rhode Island School of Design. She has painted extensively Ireland, France, and various parts of the United States and has had wide experience as an art teacher.
Mary is an ardent Cather fan. She has attended all of the
International Seminars sponsored by the Cather Foundation. While working
as an artist-in-residence at Red Cloud in the summer of 2004, Mary read
Cather works continuously and used Cather’s works as inspiration for her
paintings.
Those attending the 2005 Spring Festival in Red Cloud, Nebraska, April 29-30, can look forward to an exhibition of Mary’s paintings from her recent prairie experience here in Nebraska. The paintings will hang in the Gallery of the Cather Center during the month of May.
For more information about the artist, visit http://www.maryvaughan.com/default3.asp.
Book Kits
Nebraska libraries and media centers may borrow a book club kit from the Nebraska Library Commission or any of the six Regional Library Systems.
State Steering Committee
The State Committee is chaired by Sue Maher, Graduate Program Chair, University of Nebraska-Omaha. Members of the committee include the following:
- Tracy Bicknell-Holmes, Nebraska Library Association president
- Carol J. Connor, Library Director, Lincoln City Libraries
- Brenda Ealey, Southeast Library System
- Gail Formanack, Nebraska Educational Media Arts Association (NEMA)
- Jane Hood, Executive Director, Nebraska Humanities Council
- Betty Kort, Executive Director, The Cather Foundation
- Mel Krutz, The Nebraska Center for the Book
- Laureen Riedesel, Beatrice Libraries
- Rivkah Sass, Omaha Public Libraries
- Myrna Tewes, Director, One Lincoln/One Book, Lincoln Public Library
- Linda Trout, Omaha Public Libraries
- Rod Wagner, Director, State Library Commission
- Peggy Williams, Nebraska Language Arts Council
- Dee Yost, Public Services Librarian, Hastings College
- Bev Austin, Cather Circle, University of Nebraska Alumni Association
Related Links
- One Book One Nebraska Official Website
- One Book One Nebraska Start Page — An introduction to the selections for each year.
- The Willa Cather Foundation Website
- The Big Read: My Ántonia — From the National Endowment for the Arts. Reader’s Guides, Teacher’s Guides, and Audio Guides on CD featuring Ted Kooser, Betty Kort, Colin Powell, Garrison Keillor reading from and talking about Willa Cather. These materials are available from the Nebraska Library Commission. Contact Mary Jo Ryan for more information.