June 23 ~  Loving, Like a Prayer Politics of Female Authorship

"Loving, like prayer, is a power as well as a process. It’s curative. It is creative." ~ Zona Gale

Miss Lulu Bett: Birth

The writer of words, like a prayer, novelist and playwright Zona Gale (1874-1938) was born in Portage, Wisconsin and began her career as a newspaper reporter.

She published her first short story in 1903 and became a full-time freelance writer, selling her first novel, Romance Island, two years later.

She is best known for realistically capturing small-town life in the Midwest. Her novel, Miss Lulu Bett became a 1920 bestseller, sparked the "revolt from the village" movement, and later became a Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play.

The freethinker's celebration of an unmarried woman's quest to live freely made her the first woman to win the Pulitzer for drama.

"I don't know a better preparation for life than a love of poetry and a good digestion," she said. Gale's insightful passion for politics, pacifism, and education continue to inspire others today.

Celebrate LifeLove is curative and creative!