Bestselling author Marie Benedict blends history with literature at Evans City library event
FORWARD TWP — For International Women’s Day, the Evans City Public Library welcomed Marie Benedict to talk about her ability to blend history with fiction while highlighting the women who shaped world history.
“I’m on a very specific mission to unearth these crucial women and share their legacies with everybody,” Benedict said.
On Friday, March 8, the library hosted a conversation-style interview with bestselling author Marie Benedict at Glen Eden Barn in Evans City. Benedict spoke about her experience as an author and the importance of recognizing women who have affected history.
Benedict’s distinct style of blending history with fiction has resonated among audiences. Her novels, which include “The Other Einstein” and “The Personal Librarian,” have been translated into 29 languages.
In 20219, Benedict’s “The Only Woman in the Room” was on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. It also received a space in Library Read’s Hall of Fame.
Benedict talked about her childhood, important people in her life and how her Aunt Terry, who taught in Pittsburgh, played an important role in her life.
“I was the oldest of six kids, and so my mom outsourced the job of keeping me in books to this aunt,” Benedict said. “She was amazing, My Aunt Terry. She was also a writer herself, she was a poet, an English professor at Carlow in Pittsburgh.”
Benedict said her “world changed” when her aunt introduced her to the book “Mist of Avalon,” a 1983 historical fantasy about the retelling of the Arthurian legend from the perspective of Atalanta.
“Same time period, same story, different perspective,” Benedict said. “It completely changed my world.”
Benedict also talked about her tenacious approach when it comes to researching her novels.
“I have this long, long list of women that I write about,” Benedict said. “I follow them wherever they take me. It can be to a particular time period, a different country, a different topic.”
Benedict’s most-recent novel, “The First Ladies,” about the partnership between first lady Elanor Roosevelt and Civil Rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune, is on sale now.
