Culture of South Dakota

[10] Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose semi-autobiographical books center around her experiences as a child and young adult on the frontier, is one of South Dakota's best-known writers.

She used her experiences growing up on a homestead near De Smet as the basis for four of her novels: By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, and The First Four Years.

Rølvaag was a Norwegian immigrant who came to Elk Point to work as a farm hand in 1896, later studying English at Augustana College (at the time located in Canton).

[13] Rølvaag later wrote a number of novels, many of which centered on the struggles of immigrants in Dakota to simultaneously make a living and preserve their heritage in a foreign country.

[14] Novelist Frederick Manfred, who identified as "Siouxland" a region encompassing western Iowa, southern Minnesota, and eastern South Dakota, set a number of his novels in South Dakota, including The Golden Bowl (Manfred) (during the Dust Bowl) and King of Spades (during the Black Hills Gold Rush).

[15] Paul Goble, a native of England who has lived in Rapid City since 1977,[16][17] is an author and illustrator of children's books, most of which involve American Indian topics.

[21] Several years later, Swiss artist Karl Bodmer traveled up the Missouri River and for a time lived among the tribes of central South Dakota.

[22] After attending college at South Dakota State University, Dunn enjoyed a successful career as an illustrator for periodicals such as Harper's and The Saturday Evening Post.

[23] The exhibition was a great success, with over 5,000 people attending it throughout the summer, and Dunn agreed to donate the works to South Dakota State.