Susan Glaspell is by far Davenport’s best-known writer. Her one-act play "Trifles," about a woman accused of her husband’s murder, is the most widely anthologized American play.
In 1901, Glaspell was a young reporter for the Des Moines Daily News when she covered the real-life Hossack murder trial, which would inspire "Trifles" and later her short story “A Jury of Her Peers.”
Though best known for these two works, Glaspell also wrote over 50 short stories, nine novels, and 13 other plays. In 1931, her play "Alison’s House" won her a Pulitzer Prize.
Her play "Inheritors" takes place on a Davenport hillside (now Fejevary Park) in 1879 and 1920. Who is the rightful heir to this land?, the play asks. American Indians? White settlers? Immigrants?
The play’s protagonist, a 21-year old college student, wrestles with the question of what makes an American and whether to risk it all by standing up to the era’s racism. As she declares at the end of the play, “Once in a while you have to say what you think — or hate yourself.”
Both Gaia Splendore and Leroy Gawu-Mensah were surprised and honored to learn they had won the Nils Hasselmo Award for Academic Pursuit. Inspired by the impact of his own Augustana experience, Dr. Nils Hasselmo '57 created the award to help future educators access professional opportunities.
Rebecca Hopman never expected to meet one of the most influential people in her life when she was a student worker in Augustana's Special Collections. But Lydia Olsson’s diaries sparked a connection across time for Hopman — and a career devoted to preserving stories like Olsson’s.
Twelve faculty members advance in their careers at the college.
Enjoy a night of poetry with Mark Turcotte, the sixth Illinois Poet Laureate, and Augustana student writers.
