Chopin's settings for many of her stories is in north central Louisiana, many in Natchitoches. She published two significant short story collections; Bayou Folk in 1894, and then A Night in Acadie in 1897. She remains one of our favorite authors for her exceptional gift with words, use of irony, and range of evocative writing themes. Reader will find gems of her work in both collections, most of which are offered as links on the left of this page.

Some argue that modern feminism was borne on her pages, and one needs to look no further than her 1894 short story The Story of an Hour to support the claim. We encourage students and teachers to use our The Story of An Hour - Study Guide to better understand the work and its role in launching modern feminist literature. The reader should note the relationship of the leading figure in that story to the circumstances of Kate Chopin’s own life, where the death of her own husband started a process that would ultimately push her beyond the roles of wife and mother of six and on to the life of an artist. After The Story of an Hour, a reader would do well to balance the scale and turn their attention to a work that embraces rather than challenging conventional roles for women: Regret is a short story blessed with love and borne from a mother's heart.