In the inaugural Helen Cruickshank Lecture, Dr Goucher explores the networks that have linked women writers together throughout history.
In this lecture from the Scottish PEN Writers for Peace Committee, we celebrate the life, poetry and activism of Helen Cruickshank, and explore how the themes of her work resonate for writers today.
Helen Cruickshank was one of that group of writers which flourished in Scotland in the middle years of the 20th century and was credited with the Scottish Literary Renaissance. In 1927, Helen Cruickshank became the first Honorary Secretary to Scottish PEN, leading correspondence and raising funds to host the PEN International Congress in 1934.
In this event, Dr. Candice Goucher will speak about her most recent work, Women Who Changed the World, to be published later this year by ABC-CLIO/Praeger. In four volumes, Women Who Changed the World presents a selection of 200 biographical essays on women from all continents and all periods of world history.
In her lecture, Dr Goucher will focus on the ways in which interconnections and networks have linked together women writers. From the world’s earliest known author, the ancient Sumerian poet Enheduanna, to twentieth-century writers, such as Emily Balch, Naomi Mitchison, Olive Schreiner, and Helen Cruikshank, women have forged relationships to change the world.
After the lecture, there will be an opportunity to participate in a live Q&A.
About Dr Goucher
Dr. Candice Goucher is Professor Emerita of Washington State University, in Vancouver, Washington. She has worked in the Caribbean and West Africa on the archaeology and history of technology, culture, and gender, publishing 17 books and many articles along the way. Professor Goucher was the co-lead scholar on the 26-part public television series Bridging World History and co-editor of The Cambridge World History: A World with Agriculture.
Her book Congotay! Congotay! A Global History of Caribbean Food (published by Routledge, 2014) won the 2015 and the 25th Anniversary Gourmand awards for the best book in the world on Caribbean food. She recently co-edited Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths, that accompanied the exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum of African Art and the Musée du quai Branly, Paris, in 2018-2020. She is currently General Editor for the four-volume reference work Women Who Changed the World, to be published later this year. She joins us from Portland, Oregon.