The South Dakota Historical Society Press will publish Little Pasture on the Prairie: A Decade of Tales from a Western South Dakota Ranch by Eliza Blue on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
Little Pasture on the Prairie celebrates 10 years of Eliza Blue’s weekly newspaper column about life on a western South Dakota ranch, offering readers a selection of her essays spanning the last decade. Journalist Christopher Vondracek provides a foreword contextualizing Eliza’s writing within the larger scope of the South Dakota literary landscape, and South Dakota poet laureate and rancher Bruce Roseland’s blurb on the back cover invites readers to grab a cup of coffee and sit down with this book as one would with an old, dear friend.
A transplant from Minnesota, Eliza Blue came to South Dakota searching for a life of fulfillment and inspiration, ultimately finding herself and so much more on her “little pasture on the prairie.” In Eliza's words, “These stories of my adventures—and misadventures—and the joy of waking up every day to the majesty of life on the northern plains, are my heart, my soul, the last of my youth, the beginning of my older age, and my offering at the altar of what it means to be human and to lead a life of service. I hope reading these columns brings you some measure of the peace and connection I received in writing them.”
Eliza Blue is a writer, folk musician, and rancher. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Guardian, and NPR's All Songs Considered. Her weekly column is carried by 19 different print publications, and she has written and produced seasonal audio “postcards” from her ranch for South Dakota Public Broadcasting and Prairie Public Radio. Eliza currently hosts a show celebrating rural art and culture for PBS called Wish You Were Here with Eliza Blue, and she is the director of the Kithship Collective, an organization devoted to innovative, ecosystem-specific storytelling.
Little Pasture on the Prairie is now available for preorder for $19.95, plus shipping and tax, at www.sdhspress.com/books. Booksellers may contact the press to place orders by emailing info@sdhspress.com or calling 605-773-6009.
For more information about the South Dakota Historical Society Press, please visit sdhspress.com and follow the South Dakota State Historical Society on Facebook, @sdhspress on Instagram, and @sdhspress and @sodakhistory on X (Twitter).
About the South Dakota State Historical Society
The South Dakota State Historical Society is a division of the Department of Education. The State Historical Society, an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution since 2013, is headquartered in Pierre. For questions or memberships, call 605-773-3458 or visit https://history.sd.gov/ for more information. The society also has an archaeology office in Rapid City; call 605-394-1936 for more information.
