author
Karle Wilson Baker
1878–1960
A poet, novelist, and teacher with deep ties to Texas letters, she wrote with a graceful, thoughtful voice and helped shape literary life in Nacogdoches. Her work ranged from lyric poems to fiction and books for children, earning admiration in her own time and beyond.
1 Audiobook
The Garden of the Plynck
by Karle Wilson Baker
About the author
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on October 13, 1878, Karle Wilson Baker went on to study at the University of Chicago, where she worked with noted teachers including William Vaughn Moody and Robert Herrick. Sources also note that her first name was originally spelled Karl, with the extra “e” appearing later.
After marrying Thomas Stockham Baker, she settled in Nacogdoches, Texas, where she became an important literary presence. She taught poetry at Stephen F. Austin State University and was closely connected with the region’s cultural life, helping encourage writing and writers in East Texas.
Baker wrote poetry, novels, essays, short fiction, and children’s books. She was known strongly enough in her day to be nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1931, and she later served as Texas Poet Laureate for 1938–1939. She died in Nacogdoches on April 20, 1960.