09/26/2021
https://www.facebook.com/404955289548169/posts/4401668586543466/?d=n
Did you know the novel *Where the Red Fern Grows* was written in Idaho Falls?
Wilson Rawls had always wanted to be a writer, but had little formal education in the Ozarks, and had terrible spelling and grammar. Rawls moved to Eastern Idaho in 1956, first to Mud Lake, then 11th Street in IF. In 1958, he burned his manuscripts out of embarrassment so his fiancee Sophie Styczinski would never see them. When he confessed to this after their wedding, she implored him to re-write one, which he did from memory in three feverish weeks. Sophie edited it and prepared it for publication. That book, *Where the Red Fern Grows,* has sold millions of copies and is now required reading in many American schools.
You can learn more about Rawls at the wonderful Idaho Falls Public Library, where this statue stands in his honor. Rawls would have turned 105 years old today.
