Katherine Anne Porter
Brownwood, Brown County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(May 15, 1890-September 18, 1980) Born Callie Russell Porter in Indian Creek, Katherine Anne Porter moved to Hays County with her family following her mother's death in 1892. She left Texas in 1915 and worked as an actress, teacher, reporter, and publicist in such places as Chicago, Denver, Mexico, and New York. Her first book of short stories was published in 1930. Her acclaimed 1962 novel "Ship of Fools", was followed by the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter" in 1965. Upon her death in 1980, her ashes were buried next to her mother's grave in Indian Creek Cemetery. (1990)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born Callie Russell Porter in Indian Creek in 1890, the writer who became Katherine Anne Porter lost her mother young and left Texas in 1915 for a restless life as actress, teacher, reporter, and publicist across Chicago, Denver, Mexico, and New York. Her first collection of stories appeared in 1930, and she won lasting fame with the novel "Ship of Fools" and a Pulitzer Prize for her collected stories in 1965. When she died in 1980 her ashes were returned home, buried beside her mother in Indian Creek Cemetery.
Why it matters
One of the finest American short-story writers of the twentieth century, Porter carried her Texas roots into world literature and returned to them at the last.
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