Virginia Fortner Joins the Ranks of
Women Writing History
When North Kohala Guild member Virginia Fortner saw an announcement on the internet that the National Women’s History Museum was gathering stories and journal entries from women about their reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic, she sent them a poem she wrote last Fall.
The poem was inspired by the various responses she had encountered among her neighbors as she took long walks through her neighborhood for exercise during the early days of the lockdown. When she read the poem to her writing critique group, one member said: “I like your meandering poem.”
The National Women’s History Museum liked it, too. They asked Fortner whether she would be willing to sign a “Deed of Gift” of the poem to them for use in their project Women Writing History: A Corona Virus Journaling Project. In March, she did so.
“That means I can’t publish the poem myself,” Fortner explained. It’s theirs, now.
According to the museum’s website, contributions like Virginia’s “will be used as a living archive of women’s lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as for online and physical exhibits, articles and stories. This archive will also hold a special place in the future physical site of the National Women’s History Museum.”
Virginia Fortner lives in Kapa’au, Hawaii. She joined Hawaii Writers Guild in October 2017
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The poem was inspired by the various responses she had encountered among her neighbors as she took long walks through her neighborhood for exercise during the early days of the lockdown. When she read the poem to her writing critique group, one member said: “I like your meandering poem.”
The National Women’s History Museum liked it, too. They asked Fortner whether she would be willing to sign a “Deed of Gift” of the poem to them for use in their project Women Writing History: A Corona Virus Journaling Project. In March, she did so.
“That means I can’t publish the poem myself,” Fortner explained. It’s theirs, now.
According to the museum’s website, contributions like Virginia’s “will be used as a living archive of women’s lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as for online and physical exhibits, articles and stories. This archive will also hold a special place in the future physical site of the National Women’s History Museum.”
Virginia Fortner lives in Kapa’au, Hawaii. She joined Hawaii Writers Guild in October 2017
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