Austin true crime historian’s latest book dissects the case that inspired the first-ever true crime book (and one of literature’s most famous characters)

KUT News Now

Most students in the United States read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter sometime during school. It’s the fictional story of Hester Prynne, who has a child out of wedlock and suffers consequences for it. Hester Prynne is based on a real person. And that real case, and the non-fiction book it inspired at the time, are chronicled in the new non-fiction book All the Sinners Bow: Two Authors, One Murder, and the real Hester Prynne. Author Kate Winkler Dawson is a professor of practice in journalism and media at the University of Texas at Austin and a true crime historian and podcaster. She talked recently with KUT’s Jennifer Stayton about the controversial case of Sara Maria Cornell, who was found hanging from a haystack pole in New England in 1832.

You can hear more from Kate Winkler Dawson about All the Sinners Bow Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. at First Light Books on Speedway in Austin. You can also find out more about her latest book in a KUT post about January reading recommendations from some Austin-area librarians.

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