About Writer’s Corner

BookFest St. Louis celebrates the city’s active contemporary art scene as well as its rich literary history.

Writer’s Corner, located at the intersection of Euclid and McPherson in St. Louis’ Central West End, highlights that history with busts of renowned authors and one-time CWE residents Tennessee Williams, T. S. Eliot and Kate Chopin occupying three of the intersection’s four corners.

The project began in 2007, when the Central West End Association commissioned a sculpture of playwright Tennessee Williams by St. Louis artist Harry Weber. The sculptor is known for his dramatic bronze sculptures, which embody action with a style developed from a lifetime of sketching. Williams was followed by Eliot (2010, by Vlad Zhitomirsky) and Chopin (2012, by Jaye Gregory). A fourth sculpture, of Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs, is planned for the fourth and final corner.

The Writer’s Corner project seeks to raise awareness about these celebrated writers, and their ties to St. Louis and the Central West End — ties that many are unaware of.

“I was shocked to discover (T.S. Eliot) was born here,” sculptor Vlad Zhitomirsky told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2010. “T.S. Eliot is known around the world as a writer. There should be something here in St. Louis.”

In an interview with the Kate Chopin International Society, sculptor Jaye Gregory spoke enthusiastically of her work on the Chopin bust: “Reading her works gives one an impression of a woman of tremendous compassion, a strong sense of irony, and a great sense of humor; reading about her life and the era in which she wrote, one realizes that there must also have been a great strength of character. And, of course, I wanted all that in the bust!”

Read more about the history of Writer’s Corner project here and here, or explore an interactive map dedicated to the Central West End’s literary history.

About the Central West End

St. Louis’ Central West End, a bustling mixed-use district located on the eastern edge of the city’s ever-popular Forest Park, is incredibly walkable and offers visitors a variety of amenities and attractions to suit any taste. Upscale dining or cozy coffeehouse? Antique shop or contemporary boutique? World-class art gallery or local live music show? You’ll find it all here — nestled among eye-catching public artwork and stunning turn-of-the-century architecture that many famous literary figures (including Williams, Chopin, Eliot, William S. Burroughs and Sara Teasdale) and notable business leaders (including Albert Bond Lambert, Joseph Pulitzer, Dwight Davis and the founders of A.G. Edwards and Ralston Purina) called home.

Come see why the CWE was named one of the nation’s top 10 neighborhoods! Learn more at cwescene.com.