Have you ever wondered about the women of the Californian Gold Rush? The towns and cities that evolved left a lot to be desired and were in the main male dominated but women did live there. Some women made a living from cooking for the miners who came into the area from 1848, and providing clean boarding houses for those who could afford it. In 1849 as more gold was being discovered the number of men soared. Madams soon moved in with their 'girls'. They built hotels and gambling houses. Many of the young women who worked in these places were no more than teenagers. I will give a short bio of some of these women, women who were there, who were actually part of this exciting time in history; the good and the bad and those somewhere 'in between'. Coincidentally, the first female photographer in California, Julia Shannon was British born and an intriguing part of this story. A short Q and A follows the talk.
Views: 1992 | Enquiries: 1Margaret lives in Cheshire where she grew up. Before writing finally found its way to the fore she worked variously as a sales assistant, bookkeeper and at one point ran her own floristry business. Margaret writes poetry, fiction and plays. She is a member of the Society of Authors and the Crime Writers' Association. Her short story Pig Man, was a finalist in the 2015 Cheshire Prize for Literature. In June 2014, Margaret's story 'Our Brian' was long-listed for BBC Radio 4's 'Opening Lines'. In November 2014, her play, 'The Supper Party', made it to the final 3 in a competition for Blackpool's Grand Theatre. In 2017 her play 'Ruthless' was long-listed for the Top Five Competition at Bolton's Octagon Theatre. In July 2021 her play 'The Bus Stop' was performed at Buxton Festival Fringe followed in 2022 by 'Any Other Day', a play about Alan Turing. To date she has written 6 novels, (including the first 3 Jack France Mysteries) 2 novellas, 4 short story collections, 3 poetry collections, 3 books in Large Print, (novella and short stories) and a picture book for children (illustrated by Karen Ross) Her poetry and short stories have been published in many magazines and on line, incl, The SHOp, Best of British, Flash, I love you, Dreich, Three Drops from a Cauldron and Orbis.
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