Mari Sandoz
Mari Sandoz grew up in the sandhills of Nebraska, when the land was first opened to settlers. Her family had a hardscrabble existence on the frontier, but it was proving ground for Mari. She learned to work hard and persevere even when faced with adversity.
When Mari was twelve, she wrote a story which appeared in the Omaha Daily News, but was promptly locked in the cellar by her father as a punishment. Years later, in 1926, Mari received honorable mention for a story she had written about the sandhills, entitled, "Fearbitten." Her father wrote to her, saying, "You know I consider writers and artists the maggots of society." It is ironic that his deathbed wish was for Mari to write about his life, and that her success as an author is directly attributtable to that book, Old Jules, which was rejected thirteen times before finally being published in 1935.
Mari wrote and published a number of books about the Plains. She was respected as a historian, a writer, and a storyteller.
|
