The Land of Little Rain

Mary Hunter Austin (1868-1934) was an American writer known for incorporating the vibrant and iconic natural landscapes of the Southwestern United States in her work. Born in Illinois, she moved with her family to California after graduating from Blackburn College. She married Stafford Wallace Austin in 1891 before beginning her career as a successful writer of novels, poems, criticism, and plays. Austin was also notable for her political activism, studying and defending the Indigenous and Spanish-American cultures of the Southwest. In 1907, she moved to the art colony of Carmel-by-the-Sea in California, where she embraced a bohemian lifestyle and befriended such authors and artists as Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, Sinclair Lewis, and Xavier Martinez. She is remembered today as an important figure in American literature and as a pioneer of nonfiction and nature writing.