Book Launch: Anne Fernald, Her Own Voice: Eight Women Who Rewrote Life and Art

Professor Fernald will read from her book and be in conversation with Professor Sarah Zimmerman. Refreshments and books available for purchase.

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 5:00pm

12th Floor Lounge

Leon Lowenstein Building

113 W 60th

https://www.beacon.org/Her-Own-Voice-P2504.aspx

With Virginia Woolf as a guide, the stories of 8 radical 20th century women—wanderers, rebels, explorers, mentors—who made a life for themselves in spite of everything

Everything that changed in the 20th century changed more dramatically for women. Her Own Voice tells the stories of 8 radical women who responded to social oppression and helped create the modernist movement.

As we witness the strong resurgence of “trad wife” popularity in modern culture, this book calls on women of every generation to actively wrestle with old ideas about what it means to be “good” and even “lovable.” Anne E. Fernald, world-renowned Virginia Woolf scholar, argues that the stories we read shape the lives we imagine for ourselves, and offers these stories as possible templates for living boldly and creatively.

Among the women featured are:

• Margaret Wise Brown, groundbreaking author of Goodnight Moon

• Jessie Redmon Fauset, prolific novelist of the Harlem Renaissance

• Dorothy Arzner, the only woman director to make the transition from silent to sound films

The women in this book encompass a wide range of diverse identities: Black, white, Asian, lesbian, queer, straight, mothers, aunts, teachers; novelists; poets, filmmakers, musicians, producers. Altogether, they provide an inspirational reminder that the social and political upheaval of our time is nothing new; women have been working to overcome enormous barriers in the name of their art throughout history.