women’s history

  • Found in the Stacks: Subversive Stitches

    I recently completed my first ever cross-stitch: a bookmark with a Stephen King quote surrounded by moths and floral elements. It was a stunning red thread design on black cloth. I was immediately ready to take on a new project and headed into the book stacks at Central Library for inspiration. I scanned the shelves… Continue reading

  • Girl Power

    March is Women’s History Month. To celebrate, I’ve compiled a list of picture books from the last few years that feature amazing women that will hopefully inspire you and your children. Highlighted below are a few favorites that stood out from the crowd. Sweet Justice: Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott , by Mara… Continue reading

  • Seattle Rep’s A DOLL’S HOUSE, PART 2 – Beyond the Theater

    Have you ever wondered what became of a beloved or engaging literary character after the last page turns, or the curtain falls? What happens next? In his award-winning play A Doll’s House, Part 2 – playing at the Seattle Repertory Theater from March 15 to April 28, 2019 – Lucas Hnath applies this curiosity to one of the… Continue reading

  • Bringing Women’s Stories to Life

    For Women’s History Month this year, I’d like to highlight the way fiction can take a real person’s life and help fill in the gaps about what we historically know, using imagination in order to bring that person’s story back. In particular, since the historical register generally focuses on men, women’s full lives were often… Continue reading

  • I Want To Be A Real Princess

    Little girls and their princess fascinations…it’s bound to happen. Your daughter or niece becomes completely obsessed with those blinged-out, spoiled, little darlings and you’re stuck with the monotony of it all. Well, thanks to a mom who decided she wanted her daughter to know about real princesses with a bit more gusto and drive than… Continue reading

  • Just because Women’s History Month is over….

    …doesn’t mean that you can’t go on reading about the heroines of our past!  I read a lot of non-fiction, and I can testify that it isn’t necessarily turgid and boring.  Many biographies and histories center around a gripping story and read like fiction, and there are also the joys of well-written and humorous prose. … Continue reading

  • Women in History: Fiction

    Women’s History Month is almost over, but it’s never too late to read novels about times past and women who made history. The Daring Ladies of Lowell by Kate Alcott After trading the harsh life of farming for a textile factory job in Lowell, Massachusetts, Alice Barrow inadvertently moves into a role as spokesperson for… Continue reading

  • Life Stories: Biographies of Remarkable Women

    Pacific Lady: The First Woman to Sail Solo Across the Pacific Ocean by Sharon Sites Adams, with Karen J. Coates Coates recounts the ocean crossing and stormy personal life of a brave pioneer, Oregon native Sharon Sites Adams, who in 1965 was the first woman to sail alone from the mainland U.S. to Hawaii. The… Continue reading

  • Revolutionary Women

    I often judge a book by its cover, and usually it serves me well.  Case in point:  I was immediately drawn to Barbara Hamilton’s The Ninth Daughter because the quill pen and portrait of Abigail Adams on the cover quickly clued me in to the historical setting.  Also, there was a prominent blurb praising the… Continue reading

  • Women of the Seattle Fire Department

    Women fire fighters-Washington (State)- Seattle-Recruiting Poster-1978   What’s it like being a pioneer?  Just ask Bonnie Beers. Here’s your opportunity.  Beers, the first woman hired as a fire fighter for the Seattle Fire Department will be speaking on March 24th at 2:00 p.m. in the Bertha Knight Landes Room of City Hall. The Seattle Municipal… Continue reading