Iris Jamahl Dunkle is the author of the new biography Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb. Dunkle's other books include Charmian Kittredge London. She is also a poet, and she curates the blog Finding Lost Voices.
Q: Why did you decide to write a biography of the writer Sanora Babb (1907-2005)?
A: I came across the story of Sanora Babb while watching Ken Burns' documentary The Dust Bowl. In it, he highlights her book Whose Names Are Unknown, which she wrote in 1939.
The book was actually under contract with Random House, but due to the vast success of The Grapes of Wrath, her contract was cancelled, and her book wasn’t published until 2004.
I grew up in a family that came over during the Dust Bowl, and my grandmother never liked how we were represented in The Grapes of Wrath. In Babb's book, I saw a version of the Dust Bowl and its survivors that was more faithful to what my grandmother had recounted.
Then, when I started researching her life and discovered that she was also a poet, I was hooked. I knew she would be my next subject.
Q: How did you research her life, and what surprised you most during your research?
A: I spent a lot of time at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, where most of her collection resides, but I also interviewed people who knew her or were familiar with the people in her life.
There was also a lot of time spent on the road, visiting the places she lived—smelling the dirt in Eastern Colorado so I could write about what it felt like to live in a dugout—and visiting the historical societies in the small towns where she lived.
When you write about someone who has been forgotten, you have to dig well below the surface to uncover the story.
Q: The poet Alicia Ostriker said of the book, “Dunkle joins today’s ranks of women biographers who blow open a closed canon of novels and novelists. Babb should be read alongside Steinbeck by every high school kid--and Dunkle shows why.” What do you think of that description?
A: I agree. Had I read Babb's book in high school, I would not only have seen my own family better represented in what I was reading, but I would also have found a literary foremother right when I needed her.
So many women’s stories have been lost or forgotten. That's why I started writing my Substack, Finding Lost Voices, to write about these women every week.
Q: What do you see as Sanora Babb’s legacy today?
A: Sanora Babb knew how to build a literary community and support her friends. Because of that, the lives of her literary equals, like Ray Bradbury, William Saroyan, and Ralph Ellison, all had successful careers. I see her legacy in their success.
Babb was in a writing group with Ray Bradbury for over 40 years, and he considered her one of the best writers he'd ever read.
William Saroyan discovered Babb's work in one of the Little Magazines in the 1930s, and they began a long correspondence where they shared what they were reading and writing, cheering each other on during the early parts of their careers.
Babb also met Ralph Ellison before he wrote Invisible Man. They had an affair and continued to correspond for years afterward about their creative work.
Her influence on these writers and others is a testament to the lasting impact she had on American literature.
These days, we can learn a lot from the way she writes about disasters. In her version of the Dust Bowl, we know the people affected by it long before they lose everything and must leave for California to try and start a new life. This gives us compassion and empathy for her characters.
As someone who lives where there have been devastating wildfires over the last decade, I know how overnight a disaster can ruin someone's life. I love that by reading Babb's writing about the Dust Bowl, we are more prepared to deal with the times we are living in now.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I've begun working on a book called Strong, which offers a historical record and cultural commentary on the history of strong-bodied women and America. In it, I look at early strong women and women who performed at Muscle Beach while questioning why America insists on keeping its women small.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I'm out on book tour right now and would love to share some upcoming dates!
March 21 - 2:00 PM Iris Jamahl Dunkle at the New York Public Library, New York City
March 30, 4:00-5:30 PM, Iris Jamahl Dunkle at the Occidental Center for the Arts, Occidental, CA
April 12 - 3:00 PM Iris Jamahl Dunkle reads at Full Circle Bookstore, Oklahoma City.
May 17 - 5:30 - 7:30 PM - Iris Jamahl Dunkle at the National Steinbeck Center, Salinas, CA
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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