Author Elise Hooper will present "Learning to See"  a novel about Iconic Photographer Dorothea Lange at  'Words Writers & Southwest  Stories' on Sept. 12th, 6PM, at SW Library Branch 9010 35th Ave. S.W. 

Learning to See, A  Novel of Dorothea Lange, the Woman Who Revealed the Real America, is  a book of historical fiction about Dorothea Lange (1895 – 1965), famed for her photos of migrant workers and the poor taken during the years of the Depression.  

Elise Hooper writes that by the early 1930s, while going through personal and economic upheaval, Dorothea Lange too k to the road with her camera, creating images that would inspire, reform, and define an era. She is the pioneering documentary photographer who captured iconic images of the Great Depression and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. 

This free event by 'Words, Writers & SouthWest Stories,' recently becoming a historically-based speaker series of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, is co-sponsored by the Seattle Public Library. The event will take place at 6 PM at the SW Branch Library, 9010 35th Ave.SW, on Thursday, Sept. 12th, 2019

The author, a New Englander by birth, Elise Hooper has lived in West Seattle since moving to the Pacific Northwest in 2001. After attending graduate school she started teaching high school English and history and writing. Now Elise Hooper teaches literature as well and is a biographer, weaving together the time, places and people in Lange’s life. 

This historical novel, is told in the first person by Lange, who died of cancer in 1965. Lange was able to achieve mythic heights of success professionally while struggling with marriage and family.  Hooper's book follows the real-life trajectory of Lange from her first challenging days in San Francisco, where she starts out flat-broke but before too long, is running a photography studio. 

'Words, Writers & SouthWest Stories' presentations are scheduled for the Second Thursday of each month at 6 PM at the Southwest Branch of the Seattle Public Library. Next month on October 10th, author Jeff Smoot will present his book, Hangdog Days: Conflict, Change, and the Race for 5.14, a memoir about his rock-climbing adventures.

For videos on these and other speakers' presentations, check out "Events" at www.loghousemuseum.org. This new series is open to hosting any speaker addressing significant historical issues relating to the Puget Sound/Duwamish Peninsula.  Additional information on future presentations can be obtained by contacting Dora-Faye Hendricks Chair, 'Words, Writers & SouthWest Stories' by phone at 206-290-8315 or e-mailing Dora-Faye@comcast.net.