FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Sept. 28, 2007
CONTACT:  Jeff Mammenga, (605) 773-6000, Jeff.Mammenga@state.sd.us

Ingalls Wilder biographer to visit Cultural Heritage Center

PIERRE, S.D.--Pamela Smith Hill, author of a new biography on Laura Ingalls Wilder, will be at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre for a book reading and discussion at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 2.

In the book, Laura Ingalls Wilder:  A Writer’s Life, published by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press, Smith Hill examines the idea that Wilder stretched the truth of her reality in order to give her fiction more meaning, depth and drama.

Smith Hill delves into the complex and often fascinating relationships Wilder formed throughout her life that led to the writing of her classic Little House series. Using Wilder’s stories, personal correspondence, an unpublished autobiography, and experiences in South Dakota, Hill has produced a historical-literary biography of the famous and much-loved author. Following the course of Wilder’s life, and her real family’s journey west, Hill provides a context, both familial and literary, for Wilder’s writing career.

Laura Ingalls Wilder examines Wilder’s inspirations as a writer, particularly her tumultuous, but ultimately successful, professional and personal relationship with her daughter—the hidden editor—Rose Wilder Lane. Wilder produced her timeless classics with the help of, but not reliance upon, her daughter’s editorial insights.

Over the course of more than 30 years, Lane and Wilder engaged in a dynamic working relationship, shifting between trust, distrust, and respect. Hill argues that they differed in their visions of the path Wilder’s career should follow, but eventually Lane’s editing brought out the best of her mother’s writing, and allowed her creativity, expression, and experiences to shine through.

This book is the first in a new series of biographies highlighting South Dakota's most famous residents. Future volumes in the South Dakota Biography Series will focus on the lives of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock, Spotted Tail, and Crazy Horse.

Available for $12.95 plus shipping and tax, Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer’s Life can be purchased from most bookstores, including the Heritage Store at the Cultural Heritage Center, or ordered directly from the South Dakota State Historical Society Press. Visit www.sdshspress.com or call (605) 773-6009.