Who Is Wright Morris

Wright Morris was born January 6, 1910 at Central City, Nebraska to Will and Grace Osborne Morris, and spent the first nine years of his boyhood in this community.

Six days after his birth his mother died and was buried in the Chapman Cemetery beside a son and her own mother. Will Morris was employed by the Union Pacific Railroad as a depot agent. He eventually left his job and drifted from one disastrous entrepreneurial idea to another. By the time he was nine years old, Wright Morris, an observant, inquisitive boy, and his listless father would move on to Omaha and ultimately, Chicago where the younger Morris would reach his manhood.

However, the author’s impressions were shaped by the community he observed in those formative boyhood years. Many people and places that appear in his works have their origins in Central City and the surrounding area.

Wright Morris is regarded as one of America’s most gifted novelists and photographers. Internationally recognized, he received the National Book Award in 1957 for The Field of Vision and the American Book Award in 1981 for Plains Song. With other thirty books and numerous short stories to his credit. Morris has utilized the Nebraska and his plains boyhood as themes numerous times. Books by Morris include The Inhabitants, The Home Place, God’s Country and My People, Will’s Boy, The Man Who Was There, The Works of Love, Ceremony in Lone Tree, Fire Sermon and A Life.

Wright Morris died April 25, 1998 at the age of 88 years. He is buried in the Chapman Cemetery.