Sallie Bingham

 
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Giving Thanks

 by  in My Family, New Mexico 3 Comments

Photo of Thanksgiving dinner

Photo by RODNAE Productions, pexels.com.

It sometimes seems to me that we live in a thankless society; our privileges, when we have them, don’t seem to inspire us with gratitude. As we read about another horrible mass murder, this time in Colorado Springs, we may sense the trembling of the earth; this conservative city would never have been welcoming to those it may consider “Other.” Underground prejudice sprouts hate above ground, and the workings of hate. But there is reason to be grateful for the man whose action stopped the killing.

Here in the City of Holy Faith, we are surrounded with such beauty that gratitude would seem to be almost a daily habit: the perennial blue skies and sunshine, the mountains visible even from the downtown streets, the cathedral whose seven a.m. bell announces the beginning of another blessed day.

And so for starts I will be thanking the fortunate fate that, without any predictable cause, led me here 30 years ago, and the reuniting of my family, torn but not shattered by tragedies.

I will also be giving a special thanks for those who read these thoughts, and whose mysterious presence in my life keeps me going.

I will be giving a special thanks for those who read these thoughts, and whose mysterious presence in my life keeps me going.
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In My Family, New Mexico

A long and fruitful career as a writer began in 1960 with the publication of Sallie Bingham's novel, After Such Knowledge. This was followed by 15 collections of short stories in addition to novels, memoirs and plays, as well as the 2020 biography The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke.

Her latest book, Taken by the Shawnee, is a work of historical fiction published by Turtle Point Press in June of 2024. Her previous memoir, Little Brother, was published by Sarabande Books in 2022. Her short story, "What I Learned From Fat Annie" won the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize in 2023 and the story "How Daddy Lost His Ear," from her forthcoming short story collection How Daddy Lost His Ear and Other Stories (September 23, 2025), received second prize in the 2023 Sean O’Faolain Short Story Competition.

She is an active and involved feminist, working for women’s empowerment, who founded the Kentucky Foundation for Women, which gives grants to Kentucky artists and writers who are feminists, The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, and the Women’s Project and Productions in New York City. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sallie's complete biography is available here.

Comments

  1. Our thanks to you dear Sallie for your inspiration to all of us out here. We are very grateful for your musings, insights, history shared, and friendship especially. Have a wonderful, blessed holiday season!

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