Writers' portraits - Eudora Welty

   

    Eudora Welty by Mildred Nungester Wolfe, 1988.

    You can read the story behind the painting here, and listen to a short talk on it and on Miss Welty's work here.

    Speaking of her work, we are of course reading The Optimist's Daughter for Saturday's Book Group discussion, and although I'm not very far on yet, I was drawn in completely from the first page. As you'll hear if you listen to that talk above, Warren Perry comments on Eudora Welty's compassion, humanity and sensitivity - qualities which I think are evident in the portrait as well as on the page. This "average person who happened to be an exceptional writer" must have been fascinating to know, and I'd love to read her book One Writer's Beginnings, and What There Is to Say We Have Said, her correspondence with William Maxwell (another of our CBG writers). On a different level, I'd like to take a look at One Writer's Garden: Eudora Welty's Home Place which I heard Ann Patchett recommend with great enthusiasm.