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PORTLAND, Maine

UNE Maine Women Writers Collection celebrates birth of Maine's 1st novelist at Maine Historical Society Nov. 12th

The 250th anniversary of the birth of Maine's first novelist, Sally Keating Wood, will be celebrated at 7 p.m. on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at a presentation at the Maine Historical Society, 489 Congress Street, Portland. 

MHS is hosting the event, "A Lady of Maine: The Life and Work of Sally Sayward Barrell Keating Wood," in partnership with the University of New England‚Äôs Maine Women Writers Collection and Udolpho Press. 

Karen Weyler, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Scott Slawinski, Ph.D., Western Michigan University, will be the featured speakers.  Udolpho Press is marking the anniversary by issuing a new edition of Wood's 1800 novel, Julia and the Illuminated Baron (Udolpho Press 2009).

Madame Wood (1759-1855), the author of four gothic novels under the name A Lady of Massachusetts (and, after statehood, A Lady of Maine), is widely considered to be Maine's first novelist. She was a popular and widely-known literary figure in early 19th-century America and an important contributor to Maine’s early cultural landscape.

Exhibits of Madam Wood's artifacts will be on display at UNE's Abplanalp Library, Portland Campus, beginning Thursday, November 5.  Please call 221-4324 for more information.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.