Hankla, Cathryn, papers A Guide to the Cathryn Hankla papers, 1971-1992 M 299 A Collection in Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Collection number M 299
Cathryn Hankla papers, Collection # M 299, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth
University, Richmond, VA.
Cathryn Hankla was born on March 20, 1958 in the Appalachian Mountains in Richlands, Virginia to Joyce and Alden Hankla. From
the age of thirteen her interest in writing was evident as she created a large body of poetry. She continued her interest
in writing by working on the school magazine, "Inklings," at Pulaski County High School. After graduating from high school
in 1976, she attended Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia and received a B.A. in English and Film in 1980, and in 1982 she
earned a M.A. in English and Creative Writing. Throughout this period she continued to write poetry, short stories, plays,
and married writer and critic Richard H.W. Dillard in 1979. They were divorced in 1992. Her first book, Phenomena (1983),
was reviewed as one of the five best books of poetry published in 1983. Since then she has published a short story anthology,
Learning the Mother Tongue (1987), the highly acclaimed novel, A Blue Moon in Poorwater (1988), and another book of poetry
Afterimages (1991). Additionally, her reviews, poems, and short stories have appeared in such journals as Yarrow, the Chicago
Tribune Sunday Magazine, and College English. Hankla was visiting lecturer in fiction writing at the University of Virginia
(spring of 1985), Randolph- Macon's Woman's College Writer in Residence (spring of 1987), and visiting Assistant Professor
at Washington and Lee University (1989-1991). Currently, she lives in Troutville, VA and is an associate professor of English
at Hollins College (1986-present).
Cathryn Hankla's collection contains her poetry, short stories, plays, and novels from 1971 to 1992. The material documents
the development and maturation of Hankla from the age of 13. The bulk of Hankla's collection is in her poetry drafts (1971-1989)
and her published work (1980-1992). There are no significant gaps in her collection since its contents are spread out evenly
throughout its 21 year period.Another strength of Hankla's papers is in her poetry. Containing the poems that she has written
over a 18 year range, many of her initial poems have been revised repeatedly. These drafts provide an insight to her development
as a poet and writer by demonstrating the obvious changes in her style, form, and content. The weakness of this collection
is the lack of any biographical information about Cathryn Hankla. Except for some passing information in some of her book
reviews, there is no significant information about Hankla herself. In this collection of novels, poetry, short stories, plays,
theses, and notes, a large area of interest is in her published work. This is especially true in examples like Phenomena,
Learning the Mother Tongue, A Blue Moon in Poorwater, and Afterimages that contain a complete set of correspondence, drafts,
and reviews. Specifically, the correspondence shows her initial contact with numerous publishing companies and her continuous
discussion with the eventual publisher about the evolution of her work. As a result, the collection documents the complete
development of her work from draft to review. Presently, Hankla is not represented in any other repository.
Collection is arranged chronologically. The collection is a result of a single accession. Artificial series were imposed on
the collection to highlight the development of Hankla's work. Series 1 was divided into two subseries and chronologically
arranged therein from oldest to newest, while Series 2,3, 5-7 were arranged chronologically as well. In Series 4 there were
eight subseries with correspondence arranged chronologically and placed at the beginning. Drafts are arranged chronologically,
and reviews follow the drafts. Researchers must note that within the collection there are places where documents from one
series could be placed in another if it were not for the fact that two different works shared a piece of paper. Also, it must
be noted that "First Person Love" was unpublished.