Old Sturbridge Village lecture honors Women’s History MonthDate: 3/11/2016 STURBRIDGE – Old Sturbridge Village will host the first program of its 2016 Speaker Series on March 31.
In honor of National Women’s History Month, four acclaimed female authors, also known as “The History Girls,” will present a panel discussion about the creative process of writing historical fiction and nonfiction, followed by a lively dialogue with the audience.
Virtually anyone who has undertaken the task of writing a book has faced similar stumbling blocks.
“What should I write about?,” “How do I get past writer’s block?,” “In writing about history, how do I conduct research and obtain access to original source materials?,” “How can I be sure that my descriptions are historically accurate?” are just some of the questions these experienced panelists will explore.
This program is ideal for anyone interested not only in history, but also in the process of writing about it as well.
Guests attending this program will come away with exclusive insider tips on writing about history – both fiction and non-fiction.
Just some of the topics the panelists will address:
• The top 5 most effective ways to break writer’s block and unleash creative thinking;
• Tips on conducting historical and genealogical research, and gaining access to materials not generally available to the public;
• How to conduct interviews with eyewitnesses to the past, and set them at ease when probing difficult topics;
• Ideas on getting your writing published, and how to work with publishers;
• The best ways to uncover new topics, and how to screen them for success; and
• The future of the past: Will history/historical fiction continue to be popular? What stories are yet to be told?
A reception with the authors, with hearty hors d’oeuvre and a cash bar, opens at 6 p.m. and the panel discussion will begin at 7 p.m.
Tickets are available online at www.osv.org, or at the door and are $12 per person and $10 for Old Sturbridge Village members.
For details, call 800-SEE-1830 (800-733-1830).
“The History Girls” panel is composed of four women authors:
Theresa Mitchell Barbo is an award-winning journalist and author of nine books in historical non-fiction specializing in 19th and 20th century maritime and cultural history. She is also a noted lecturer before audiences in academic and military circles throughout New England. She graduated with both her Bachelor of Arts and her Master of Arts in English and Writing from UMASS Dartmouth.
In addition to being a writer, Barbo is also an activist for FACE (Families Advocating for Campus Equality) and the chair of the Cape Cod and Islands Commission on the Status of Women.
Barbo is also the founding director of the Annual Cape Cod Maritime History Symposium and the co-founder of the Cape Cod Wildlife Collaborative.Though originally from the Midwest, Barbo currently resides on Cape Cod with her family.
Sally Cabot Gunning is the author of four critically acclaimed historical novels: “The Widow’s War,” “Bound,” “The Rebellion of Jane Clarke,” and “Benjamin Franklin’s Bastard.” Her latest novel, “Monticello – The Story of a Daughter and her Father,” will be released in September.
A job at a museum in Rhode Island during her college years inspired Gunning to dig out “the other history.”
Gunning started writing at a young age but did not write her first book until well after college. She has pulled from the history of Cape Cod as well as her own personal family history for inspiration.
She is a lifelong resident of New England and currently resides in Brewster.
Nancy Rubin Stuart is an award-winning author of seven books about women and social history. Her journalistic work has appeared in the New York Times, Huffington Post, The New England Quarterly and other national publications.
Her most recent books are “Defiant Brides: The Untold Story of Two Revolutionary-Era Women and the Radical Men They Married” and “The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation.”
She focuses much of her writing on women because she believes that “If we fail to research and record women’s history, it will be lost to time and to future generations.”
Stuart has appeared on several national television shows, most recently on C-Span’s BookTV and has been heard on NPR Radio.
She currently serves as the executive director of the Cape Cod Writers Center and is a board member of the Women Writing Women’s Lives Seminar at the City University of New York.
Deborah Swiss is the award-winning author of “The Tin Ticket: The Heroic Journey of Australia’s Convict Women” and three other non-fiction books. The Tin Ticket, published in 2010, tells the true story of the women who were forced into slavery after being exiled from the British Isles to Australia in the early 19th century.
Swiss has appeared on The Today Show and NPR, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, Time, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, and The Sydney Morning Herald.
As a writer and a speaker, Swiss focuses on the issues of women’s history and gender equality.
She graduated with both her master’s and her doctorate from Harvard University.
|
