Ann Matzke and her Upcoming Novel-in-Verse About Eleanor Roosevelt

One thing authors seem to share is curiosity. It’s what led my friend and fellow author Ann Matzke to begin her research on Eleanor Roosevelt over a year ago. Though Eleanor was a prolific writer, Ann found little telling how Eleanor felt about her extraordinary life. So Ann is creating a novel-in-verse exploring Eleanor’s more vulnerable side.

Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

She has also discovered some ways in which Eleanor’s life mirrored the lives of young people today. For example, Eleanor used the social media method of her time, radio, to communicate her messages of acceptance and inclusion and to rally others to action.

Here are links to information about Eleanor’s causes:

https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

https://www.fdrlibrary.org/

(Courtesy Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.)

Also, when she got nervous before public events, instead of taking out a Rubik’s cube, Eleanor pulled out her knitting!

Here’s more information Ann shared about Eleanor’s knitting.

“Eleanor was an avid knitter carrying her knitting bag with her. She knitted after dinner parties, while FDR spoke during his Fireside chats, on airplanes and trains, while ambassador to the United Nations, on the beach, and just about anywhere she could.

Posters were created to encourage Americans to do their part and knit items for service men Remember Pearl Harbor Purl Harder.

Eleanor effectively launched the World War II knitting effort at a Knit for Defense tea held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on September 31, 1941. It is said that 2,000 women attended the event. In her opening remarks Eleanor said, ‘We cannot turn our backs on the needs of other people.’ She knitted during the rest of the program to be a good example.

Women all across the country could knit items for one of the auxiliary units of the Red Cross. The Red Cross supplied patterns for sweaters, socks, mufflers, fingerless mitts, toe covers, stump covers, cotton bandages, and other garments. Items were knitted in specific colors of olive drab or navy-blue wool yarn. A label was sewn into each item indicating the Red Cross chapter it came from.”

(Information taken from: https://www.historylink.org/File/5722) Eleanor’s knitting

Thank you, Ann, for sharing about your Eleanor Roosevelt project. I can’t wait to see your wonderful book in print!

Best,

Dale