Children’s and Middle-Grade Stories | Frances Browne (1816–1879)
Frances Browne was an Irish poet and novelist who was blind from the age of eighteen months. She is best known for her collection of...
Susan Stoderl
Apr 28, 20232 min read
Christine de Pizan | Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orléans
"The Poem of Joan of Arc" is dated July 31, 1429, and was the first poem to honor the historic Jeanne d’Arc. Several legends attributed...
Susan Stoderl
Mar 28, 20232 min read
Writing Art Songs and Opera to Middle-Grade Fiction | Prairie Girl (2008) Poems III & IV
These poems were written for song a cycle in 2008, Prairie Girl. I wrote about my life as a child growing up in a rural county of Kansas...
Susan Stoderl
Mar 24, 20231 min read
From Writing Art Songs and Opera to Middle-Grade Fiction | Prairie Girl (2008)
During my second career, after singing and running a small opera company, I began composing art songs and opera. In 2008, I wrote about...
Susan Stoderl
Mar 17, 20231 min read
A Most Unusual Writer’s Life | Charles, Duke of Orléans (b. 1394–d. 1465)
In 1406, Charles and his first wife and cousin were married. He was twelve, and she was seventeen and already a widow. She died of...
Susan Stoderl
Feb 14, 20232 min read