Happy 200th Birthday Fanny Fern!

Fanny Fern is one of the world’s many lost writers.  Just a few generations after her death, few people, outside of academia, have heard of this woman whose words took the country by storm. 

I fell in love with Fanny Fern in graduate school.  I loved her work and I loved her story.  I was incensed that the world had forgotten about such a remarkable writer, such a remarkable woman.  So, I began researching about her.  I wrote papers.  I read and read and read.  I wanted to bring Fanny Fern back to life.

It took nine years for my Fanny Fern passion to become a published book.  My historical novel, Shame the Devil, officially comes out today – July 1, 2011 – with SUNY Press.  Fanny Fern’s birthday was July 9, 1811.  I recently realized that my book, my Fanny Fern re-birth project, will come out just in time for the 200^th anniversary of Fanny Fern’s birth.  I don’t know anything about the timing of the universe or astrology or nudgings from the beyond the grave or anything like that, but you’ve got to admit – the timing is amazingly coincidental!