Knopf, Alfred A. (1892-1984). President of New York publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Knopf received his BA from Columbia University in New York City in 1912 and founded Alfred Knopf, Inc., in 1915 with his future wife Blanche Wolf. They married in 1916, and their son Alfred “Pat” Knopf was born in 1918. Cather chose him as her publisher beginning with Youth and the Bright Medusa (1920) and One of Ours (1922), partly because she was dissatisfied with the promotion of her books by Houghton Mifflin but also because she recognized the high quality of Knopf's books, as well as what she regarded as his intelligent advertising. Knopf was noted for publishing the work of leading European and South American writers in translation, as well as original works. Knopf and Cather’s extensive correspondence testifies to their mutual professional respect and to what also became an important personal friendship.

Thirkell, Angela Margaret Mackail (1890-1961). British author. Born in London, England, to John Mackail and Margaret Mackail, Angela Thirkell attended St. Paul’s Girls’ School. In 1918 she moved to Australia with her husband, and in the early 1920s she began contributing to Australian journals like Cornhill Magazine and The Forum. In 1929 Thirkell returned to England to work as a journalist where she instead became a popular novelist. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. published both Thirkell and Willa Cather. Cather described her work as “so silly, that it is more entertaining to read her than to read writers who try to be wise” (#2750).