Bernice Slote was born in 1913 in Hickman, Nebraska. She graduated from Nebraka Wesleyan University in 1933. She taught English at Ord High School from 1934-1941. In 1941 she earned her M.A. in English at the University of Nebraska and continued graduate work at the University of Michigan and earned two Hopwood Awards for writing poetry. She taught English at the Nebraska City High School from 1941-1942. From 1942-1946 she was Instructor of English, Director of the Library and Assistant to the Dean at Norfolk Junior College.
In 1946 Bernice Slote was invited to join the faculty of the English Dept. at the University of Nebraska where she taught literature and writing. Her poems appeared in the Atlantic monthly, Michigan quarterly review, Voices, etc. In 1963 she became editor of the Prairie schooner. She is best known for her work on Willa Cather. Her edition of Cather's first book, April twilights, and her collection of Cather's early writings, The kingdom of art, mark the beginning of modern Willa Cather studies. Bernice Slote was active on the Board of Governors of the Willa Cather Memorial in Red Cloud, the Nebraska State Poet Laureate Commission and the Western Literature Association. She served as an advisory editor at the University of Nebraska Press.
From the description of Papers, 1870-1983. Willa Cather collection. (University of Nebraska - Lincoln). WorldCat record id: 41067166
