Lincoln, Nebraska 68505
June 13, 1972
I am happy to know that you are still a fan for our Epic America course and it is thrilling to know that now your little boy will be coming on to hear or read it. The CYCLE OF THE WEST under the title THE TWILIGHT OF THE SIOUS X is still running at the University and I am told that there is considerable dissatisfaction with the fact that so many are unable to get into the course. Not long ago we received a letter from a person who says he has tried for ten semesters to enroll and has failed. The trouble is that the space is so limited. I have not been back to the University since I left it in 1965.
You will be interested, I am sure, in the fact that BLACK ELK SPEAKS, which we used to some extent in the course, is a best seller all over the country and in eight countries of Europe. In the first week of April it was put on the market in the Pocket Book series and by May 5 it had sold 250,000 copies, with no end in sight.
It was so good of you to write me. Such letters from former students mean more to me than I can say.
I lo give a good many public recitals of my work, especially the CYCLE OF THE WEST, and I am always greatly impressed by the response of audiences. They actually stand up. And yet there are some people who believe the public does not like poetry.
I will be in Columbia again some time around the 20th of July. My daughter, Hilda N. Petri has an office in Columbia at 110 North 8th, or Box 1096 (P.O.). If you should know that you would be in that part of the country, you might drop a line to my daughter. (Incidentally, she is my lawyer and agent.)
Kindest thoughts, old friend, and blessings on that boy.
John G. Neihardt
Did you see me on the Dick Cavett show last night? By the way, the New York publishers — Harcourt Brace Jovanovich — will issue my autobiography on September 20. I don't think you'll have much trouble locating it.
