The St. Clair County Library System is hosting a virtual presentation and Q&A session with award-winning author, Mary Doria Russell. Russell is the author of The Women of the Copper Country, a story about the mining community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 1913.
Russell said she wanted to write a fictionalized account of the historical events that happened when a copper strike affected the mining industry and communities in Michigan’s Keewenaw Peninsula. The story’s protagonist is 25-year-old Annie Clements, based on the real-life story of Big Annie.
“Here was a 25-year-old woman who is central to a strike against the most powerful company in the most dangerous industry of her time. A child of despised immigrants. A housewife with a simple education in a time when women couldn’t vote and weren’t supposed to take part in public life. Somehow, she mobilized 10,000 miners and kept everyone going, day after day, month after month. So my task was to tell readers: What makes a woman like Annie Clements?” said Russell.
To register for the event, visit the library’s website <HERE>.
*CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had an error in the book title.
Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand
