April 16, 2021
Hello, ,
Great news!
I've been invited to speak about Catherine Leroy at an event to mark the 30th anniversary since the end of the Vietnam War!
Now zoom is a household word, events like this are open to the public and available to all. Please come! It's in two weeks, Friday, April 30th. See details below in News & Links.
And there's more good news!
Do you read book blurbs? The short quotes on the back cover where famous people tell you the book is great and you should read it?
I always read them. And even though I was asked to blurb an author's book several years ago, my books have never gotten blurbs. Until now.
I never imagined I'd get a blurb from a writer whom I've admired for years and who may have subconsciously influenced my work.
Twenty years ago, when I only dreamed of someday publishing a book, I happened to see Elizabeth Partridge's biography of Dorothea Lange. Struck by the cover photo, I loved it at first sight!
When my editor told me Elizabeth Partridge wrote a blurb recommending my upcoming book about Vietnam War Photographer Catherine Leroy, I almost came to tears. Elizabeth has built an award-winning career writing books for young people, and like me, loved telling
the story of an incredible woman photographer.
Her biography of Dorothea Lange contains more than 60 black and white photographs, some of America's most desperate and beautiful faces captured on film.
Dorothea Lange did her most famous work in the 1930s and 40s. Through the Great Depression and the Second World War, Lange traveled American documenting the down-and-out, the oppressed and the needy.
You've probably seen her portrait "Migrant Mother" which has become an icon of hardship, dislocation and poverty caused by the dust bowl in the 1930s. In addition, Lange
recorded heart-breaking photographs of Japanese Americans interned on the West Coast during World War II.
In Restless Spirit, The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange, author Elizabeth Partridge wove Lange's own words with the photos, creating an intimate portrait of the artist. Lange was a pioneer in more than photography. She pursued a professional career while balancing family responsibilities and personal crises, rare for women of her generation. She was independent, even radical, in her political thinking and social philosophy.
Elizabeth Partridge's most recent book is Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam. It tells personal stories of eight people—six American soldiers,
one American nurse, and one Vietnamese refugee—as well as defining key American leaders and events of the war.
To learn more about National Book Award finalist and Printz Honor recipient Elizabeth Partridge, check out her website here...
"An intensely personal look at the brilliant, brave war photographer, Cathy Leroy, whose sharp eye brought us vivid photographs of the Vietnam War. You’ll finish this book feeling like you knew Cathy and were in Vietnam with her. An incredible and much-needed work.” — ELIZABETH PARTRIDGE
Upcoming virtual panel with audience Q & A.
Catherine Leroy: Woman at War
A collaboration between FOTODEMIC and the Catherine Leroy Fund (Dotation Catherine Leroy).
Friday, April 30
1:00PM EST
Mark your calendar. Check back here next week for how to register and access the event. Admission: $10 to the Catherine Leroy Fund, or whatever amount you can afford to donate. Everyone is welcome to attend.
The panel will examine Leroy’s trailblazing career and its influence on the role of women in photography today, fifteen years since her passing. Despite having been awarded both the George Polk and Robert Capa awards for her photography, Leroy’s contributions have remained largely unknown.
The event April 30th marks the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, a conflict during which many photographers distinguished themselves by resisting official government narratives to expose the darker realities of the war.
Guest speakers include Elizabeth Becker, author of the recent book, You Don’t Belong Here, profiling Leroy and two other women journalists who covered the Vietnam War.
Elizabeth Becker is a former New York Times correspondent who covered the war in Cambodia.
Also speaking, Mary Cronk Farrell, author of the forthcoming biography for young adults, Close-up on War, Jacques Menasche, director of film Cathy at War, and Christine Spengler, a photographer who worked alongside Leroy.
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