Monthly Archives: March 2016

Everything else

Two Books, Two First Place Awards

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Chatelaine-Awards-2015You may have already seen this on social media, but I’m proud to announce:

Daughter of Destiny took First Place in the Legacy/Legend category of the Chatelaine Award for Women’s/Romantic Fiction (it was moved to that award from the Chaucer Award).

Chaucer-Awards-2015Madame Presidentess took First Place in the Women’s US History category of the Chaucer Award for Historical Fiction.

Now both books will compete with other first place in category winners for the overall Chaucer and Chatelaine Grand Prize Awards. If one or both win their grand prize award, they will compete with the other grand prizes in each genre to be named Book of the Year.

Those results will be announced at the 2016 Chanticleer Author’s Conference and Awards Gala on April 30 in Bellingham, Washington.  I’ll be there in person, so I’ll let you know more once I know… Cross your fingers!

Everything else, Women's History Month

March 11: European Woman – Empress Elisabeth of Austria

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Erzsebet_kiralyne_photo_1867 (1)I’ll fully admit to picking Elisabeth out of personal bias. My family is from Austria on my mom’s side and my grandmother was named after Empress Elisabeth. (My middle name is Elizabeth, although I’m named after the saint that was the mother of John the Evangelist. But I still claim Elisabeth, too.) I’ve been to both Hapsburg palaces in Austria and my grandmother and I are convinced we either knew her in a previous life or are related to her somehow. But I digress.

Known as Sisi to friends and family, she helped bring about the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867, which was a political powerhouse in Europe. Her husband, Franz Joseph, was deeply in love with her, although it doesn’t appear she felt the same. Most biographers report her life being an unhappy one, despite her legacy and noble ranking. Elisabeth was the longest serving Empress-consort of Austria, at 44 years. She was stabbed to death in 1898.

Interestingly, there seems to be a surge in historical fiction about Sisi lately. Recent fictional portrayals include The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin, The Accidental Empress by Alison Pataki and the just published Sisi: Empress on Her Own, also by Alison Pataki.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Elisabeth_of_Austria

Women's History Month

March 10: Native American Woman: Wilma Mankiller

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Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Phil Konstantin

Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Phil Konstantin

Wilma Mankiller (please, no jokes about her name; according to Wikipedia, it “refers to a traditional Cherokee military rank; it is Asgaya-dihi in the Cherokee language. Alternative spellings are Outacity or Outacite.”) was principal chief of the Cherokee Nation (beginning in 1985), and was the first woman to hold such a position in a major tribal government. She was also an activist for Native Americans, an interest that work began in 1969 with the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island. She founded the Cherokee Nation Community Development Department is credited with improving health care, education and tribal governance for the Cherokee Nation.

She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton in 1998.

Sources:
Wilma Mankiller
http://www.blogher.com/wilma-mankiller-first-female-chief-cherokee-nation-dies?main_topic=blogher-topics/politics-news
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilma_Mankiller

Women's History Month

March 9: African American Woman – Patricia Roberts Harris

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800px-Patricia_R._Harris_official_portraitPatricia Roberts Harris began her career as a lawyer and political adviser, even working as a director at IBM for a time. She also served as United States Ambassador to Luxembourg under President Lyndon B. Johnson, and was the first African-American woman to represent the United States as an ambassador. In 1977, she became the first African American woman named to a presidential cabinet (under President Jimmy Carter) and was the first woman to be part of the line of succession to the Presidency. She was 13th in line.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Roberts_Harris

 

Women's History Month

March 8 – Disability: Dorthea Dix

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Shortened from Wikipedia:

Dorothea Dix  was an American activist on behalf of the poor and insane wh800px-Dix-Dorothea-LOCo, through a program of lobbying state legislatures and Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums.

She was made aware of the need for reform during a visit to Britain where she met reformers who were making great inroads on behalf of those suffering from mental illness.  After returning to America, Dorthea conducted a statewide investigation of care for the insane poor in Massachusetts. In most cases, towns contracted with local individuals to care for mentally ill people who could not care for themselves and lacked family/friends to do so. Unregulated and underfunded, this system resulted in widespread abuse.

In 1845, she successfully  she convinced the New Jersey legislature to authorize an asylum for the mentally ill, and many more states followed suit after a personal visit from Dorthea. She continued investigations in various northern states until the Civil War broke out and she was appointed Superintendent of Army Nurses by the Union Army, a position in which she served (often ) until August 1865. After the war ended, she focused her attention on crusading for the imprisoned, poor and mentally ill in the south.

Been Searching for You

Ashley Clements to Narrate Been Searching for You Audio Book

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Ashley ClementsI am beyond thrilled to announce that the audio book of my romantic comedy Been Searching for You will be narrated by Ashley Clements! She’s best know as the star of the Youtube series The Lizzie Bennett Diaries (and its book and audio book spinoffs), for which she won a Streamy award for Best Actress in a Drama. She has also narrated an audio book by Gemma Halliday and appeared in the series Muzzed, the Musical. Soon she’ll be starring in the romantic comedy Non-Transferable and playing Charlotte Bronte in the series Edgar Allan Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party.

If you’ve seen The Lizzie Bennett Diaries (or listened to the audio books) you know she’s a one-woman powerhouse of voices and characters. If you haven’t, get to Youtube or Amazon Prime now and watch this series – it’s a hilarious modern-day retelling of Pride & Prejudice in vlog format. You will NOT regret it. That’s how I fell in love with her.

I originally had a British actress in mind when I wrote the character of Annabeth in Been Searching for You, but when I saw Ashley, I actually said out loud “Oh my God, that’s Annabeth!” And she’s been my dream choice even since. Who knows it if will ever be made into a movie, but at least I’ve got my dream Annabeth doing the audio.

We’re working with Deyan Studios and ACX to bring this audio book to you. I’m hoping to have it available on May 10 when the print and ebook versions are released, but you never know what may come up. More information as I know it.

Ashley, thanks so much for agreeing to work with me on this book!

Women's History Month

March 7: Teacher – Elizabeth Blackwell

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March 7- TeacherElizabeth BlackwellBorn in England, Elizabeth Blackwell’s family moved to the United States in 1832 when she was 11. Six years later, the family had a run of bad luck and Elizabeth, her mother and sister were forced to open a school to provide income. In 1847, she was accepted to Genevea Medical College in New York, voted in unanimously by the all-male student body. She graduated in 1849, becoming the first woman to achieve a medical degree in the United States. She’s also the first woman on the UK Medical Register.

In the 1860s, she created the Women’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary, the first medical school for women in the United States.  She returned to England at the end of her life, where she continued to teach at the London School of Medicine for Women.

Sources:
http://blog.carneysandoe.com/womens-history-month-8-trailblazing-female-teachers/#sthash.v7WwdLyV.dpuf

http://blog.carneysandoe.com/womens-history-month-8-trailblazing-female-teachers/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Blackwell 

Everything else, Women's History Month

March 6 – Politician: Belva Lockwood

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March 6-PoliticianBelva Ann Lockwood was a suffragist and one of the first female lawyers in the United States.

Belva believed she should have the same right to practice law as her male counterparts, so she drafted an anti-discrimination bill that would give her  the same access to the bar as male colleagues. She spent five years lobbying Congress in favor of this bill. It was passed in 1879 and signed into law by President Hayes. Because it allowed all qualified women attorneys to practice in any federal court, Belva was sworn in as the first woman member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar.

Following in Victoria Woodhull’s footsteps, Belva ran for president in 1884 and 1888 on the ticket of the National Equal Rights Party (founded by Victoria) and was the first woman to appear on official ballots (Victoria’s votes were write-ins and cannot be traced). she is thought to have received around 4,100 votes.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belva_Ann_Lockwood 

Everything else

March 5 – Poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks

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Gwendolyn BrooksFrom Poetry Foundation:

Gwendolyn Brooks was:

  • The first black* author to win the Pulitzer Prize.
  • The first black woman to be poetry consultant to the Library of Congress.
  • Poet laureate of the State of Illinois.

She had a love of reading and writing from a young age and was only 13 when her first published poem, “Eventide,” appeared in American Childhood. By 17,  she was a frequent contributor to the Chicago Defender, a newspaper serving Chicago’s black population. She published her first book of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville in 1945. Throughout her life, she often wrote with politics and civil rights in mind.

*She preferred this term over “African American.”