Here she is!! The cover of my new book, Listen, World!: How the Intrepid Elsie Robinson Became America’s Most-Read Woman. The book comes out September 27, 2022. You can pre-order it here.
At 35, Elsie feared she’d lost it all. Reeling from a scandalous divorce in 1917, she had no means to support herself and her chronically ill son. She dreamed of becoming a writer and was willing to sacrifice everything for this goal, even swinging a pickax in a gold mine to pay the bills.
When the mine shut down, she moved to the Bay Area. Armed with moxie and samples of her work, she barged into the offices of the Oakland Tribune and was hired on the spot. She went on to become a nationally syndicated columnist and household name whose “Listen, World!” column ran for more than 30 years and garnered millions of readers.
Elsie took a gamble on self-fulfillment, and I’m certain you’ll find her story as inspiring as I do – no matter what your goals are. I’ve come to love Elsie, and Julia Scheeres and I can’t wait to share her with you!
Why did I write a biography about a woman you’ve likely never heard of? I didn’t know anything about Elsie either when I began researching her life 11 years ago. But when I discovered a poem she wrote (I found it in my childhood home after my mother died), I was absolutely captivated and driven to learn more. Read the piece I wrote for Moms Don’t Have Time to Grieve about this life-changing moment.
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