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澳门六合彩资料库 Davis Lecturer Spotlights Overshadowed Women; New Biography Highlights Sanora Babb

Researched Dust Bowl Refugees in California and More

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Black and white photo of woman looking in bookstore window of her own book
Black and white photo of Sanora Babb looking into a bookstore window where her image is posted and her book, "The Lost Traveler," is on display. 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis Lecturer Iris Jamahl Dunkle has written a biography on Babb. (Image courtesy of Iris Jamahl Dunkle)
Black-and-white photo of woman, wearing pearls or beads and dark dress or top
Born in 1907, Sanora Babb was a writer and editor. Her research on Dust Bowl refugees in California  was referenced in Ken Burns' PBS documentary, The Dust Bowl. Her novel on the subject, "Whose Names Are Unknown," written in the late-1930s, was finally published in 2004 just months before Babb died at the age of 98. (Image courtesy of Iris Jamahl Dunkle)

Telling women鈥檚 stories is what excites writer Iris Jamahl Dunkle. Since 2019, the biographer, poet and creative writing instructor has been shedding light on these previously underappreciated women in two books as well as a weekly online newsletter, , via Substack. 

Her latest book, , is about a female writer who, while living among Dust Bowl refugees in California, was asked to share her notes with author John Steinbeck. Steinbeck used those notes in his novel The Grapes of Wrath. Babb鈥檚 own book, , was due to release just months later but publishers pulled it because, as Dunkle tells it, they thought there wasn鈥檛 enough demand in the market for two books about the Dust Bowl. 

But there鈥檚 much more to Babb鈥檚 life than her overlap with Steinbeck. And that鈥檚 the story that Dunkle tells in her literary biography, which was released in October to great acclaim. An excerpt of Riding Like the Wind was recently published in and reviewed in .

A shared 鈥極kie鈥 heritage 

Dunkle, who grew up in Sonoma County, can still recall her own grandmother鈥檚 feelings about Steinbeck鈥檚 novel. She had moved to California during the Dust Bowl and was frustrated by how 鈥淥kies鈥 like herself were characterized in the book. 

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 understand her anger and I was kind of ashamed of my Okie heritage,鈥 Dunkle said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 really celebrate it. In fact, we weren鈥檛 even allowed to say the word 鈥極kie鈥 because it was used as a slur.鈥

The Grapes of Wrath鈥檚 depiction of the fictional Joad family 鈥 poor and constantly struggling 鈥 doesn't leave much room for empathy, according to Dunkle. 

Dunkle will be making appearances for the next six weeks

., including at 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis.  

鈥淚t's a story that鈥檚 built on stereotypes and it鈥檚 heralded as this great American story 鈥 and it鈥檚 good writing 鈥 but it鈥檚 another mythology of the west that puts women in a disempowered situation without agency,鈥 Dunkle said. 鈥淎nd I'm really tired of that story in literature.鈥

Babb, on the other hand, helped Dunkle feel proud of her Oklahoma roots. In Babb鈥檚 novel, characters are more diverse, realistic and have agency.

鈥淚t helped me see my heritage differently and, I thought, well, what could that do for other women who have not seen themselves, especially, in Western stories?鈥 Dunkle said. 

Immersing herself in Babb鈥檚 story, then writing it, was a five-year process that included trips to Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and even Connecticut for archival research, sensory research and interviews. 

鈥淗er life is so storied,鈥 Dunkle said.

The biography, meant to read with the flow of a novel, covers Babb鈥檚 early life growing up in Oklahoma and Colorado. She lived in a dugout on a broomcorn field and learned how to read from The Denver Post pages her mom posted against the dirt walls. Her life was hectic with her abusive, gambling father, but everything changed after she escaped to Los Angeles. Babb became a writer, hanging out with the likes of Tillie Olsen, Ray Bradbury and Ralph Waldo Ellison, whom she had an affair with. 

"Story was my most important guiding principal 鈥 and really writing sensory rich scenes because she was such a sensory rich writer,鈥 Dunkle said. 鈥淲hen you read her stories, you feel her connection with the land and the place. In order for me to write it, I had to go to eastern Colorado and see its beauty and feel what it feels like to walk on buffalo grass or hear the geese flying overhead, smell the sage in the air.鈥

Bringing women鈥檚 stories forward

Babb鈥檚 story is the second biography of Dunkle鈥檚 to be published. The first, , is about another near-forgotten woman, author Jack London鈥檚 wife who, Dunkle said, helped him write many of his books but was never given credit for it. 

Blond woman dressed in blue. Portrait
Iris Jamahl Dunkle, lecturer in the Department of English at 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis, is the author of "Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb." (Courtesy photo)

Growing up, Dunkle was always familiar with Jack London because Sonoma County is home to Jack London State Park. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 where I discovered you could be a writer,鈥 she remembered. 

After that biography was published in 2020, the local museum, the House of Happy Walls Museum, asked if Dunkle鈥檚 research could be used during its remodel. 

鈥淚t brought Charmian Kittredge London鈥檚 story into the museum and that was so meaningful to me as a scholar to have the work that I've done change something in the physical world that could maybe change the experience for young girls going to the park,鈥 Dunkle said. 

Since then, Dunkle has been committed to telling the stories of women like London who have been 鈥渇orgotten or misremembered.鈥

Finding lost voices

Her newsletter, , which she began last year, already has more than 3,000 subscribers. 

Book cover for Riding Like the Wind by Iris Dunkle
ver of book 

鈥淚t鈥檚 been amazing, people are just coming out of the woodwork,鈥 she said. 鈥淭here's a lot of women who are interested in learning about women who have been forgotten.鈥

Dunkle, in the College of Letters and Science at 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis, will give readings from Riding Like the Wind across the U.S. for the next six months in addition to teaching undergraduates. 

鈥淚 love being able to show my students what it鈥檚 like to be a professional writer,鈥 Dunkle said. Some of her students have been following her writing journey and, she said, it鈥檚 exciting to be able to share the end result with them so they can see 鈥測ou can actually do this.鈥

鈥淎s an undergrad, I didn鈥檛 know that I could get here and I just feel like it鈥檚 really important to make them realize how gifted they are and how this is a possible path for them,鈥 she said. 

Dunkle will in conversation with Matthew Stratton at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis on Nov. 19 at 4:30 p.m. That same week, she will be holding readings in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland.  

This from the College of Letters and Science. 

 


 

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