Chautauqua Speaks

Discovering the Unsung Heroines

Lecture Description:

As we celebrate the women who were “icons and instigators,” there are many women’s stories that remain to be told. Sara Fitzgerald, an award-winning biographer and former Washington Post editor, shares the stories of the little-known women whose lives she has studied: the top woman in the Republican Party of the 1960s, the secret American love of the poet T. S. Eliot, and the women who challenged sex discrimination at American universities in the 1970s. A member of the board of the Biographers International Organization, Fitzgerald will briefly highlight other women that biographers are now discovering—and the challenges authors face when they delve into those stories.

SPEAKER BIO:

Sara Fitzgerald is the author of “The Silenced Muse: Emily Hale, T. S. Eliot, and the Role of a Lifetime,” recognized by The Washington Post as one of the 50 Top Non-Fiction Books of 2024. Her previous biography, “Elly Peterson: ‘Mother’ of the Moderates,” was chosen as a “Notable Book of 2012” by the Library of Michigan and honored by the Historical Society of Michigan. She is also the author of “Conquering Heroines: How Women Fought Sex Bias at Michigan and Paved the Way for Title IX” and the novel “The Poet’s Girl.” After becoming the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of The Michigan Daily,” her career as a journalist included 15 years as an editor and new media developer at The Washington Post. She is a member of the board of the Biographers International Organization and the United Church of Christ’s Media Justice Ministry.

Venue located on Chautauqua Institution grounds; a gate pass is required.