English professor's book wins national award

On September 28, Dr. Michelle M. Dowd, assistant professor of English at UNCG, was awarded the 2009 NWSA Sara A. Whaley book award. This annual award of $2,000 is given to two authors for their works on women and labor. It is given in honor of Sara A. Whaley, who owned Rush Publishing and was the editor of Women's Studies Abstracts, by the National Women's Studies Association (NWSA). The NWSA is an organization that strives to bring about educational and social transformation for women.

The book chosen for the award was Women's Work in the Early Modern English Literature and Culture. It discusses the roles of women during early modern England, and looks into works of other famous authors of that time period such as Shakespeare and Anne Clifford. A review of her book states, "Both careful and provocative, Women's Work in Early Modern English Literature and Culture advances our understanding of the complexly intertwined histories of women, work, social change, and literary form," (Frances E. Dolan, author of Marriage and Violence: The Early Modern Legacy). Her work focuses on showing women's work and writing during the 16th and 17th century. It was a time when women were creating their own authority inside and outside of the home. The book acknowledges issues that are often left out of present day discussions on women and labor besides the low pay and equal work rights of the late 19th and early 20th century.

In speaking about the award, Dowd said, "I was very surprised to learn about the award, and of course incredibly honored. This book project was many years in the making, and it is really wonderful to have it recognized nationally in this way." Furthermore, she stated, "One of the goals of my project is to demonstrate how literary narratives about women's work participated in these debates and contributed to social change. Fiction can be a very powerful thing, both in early modern English society and in our own."

Dr. Dowd's interests concentrate in the Tudor and Stuart Drama, such as the works of Shakespeare, as well as early modern women's writing. She has many published essays on similar subjects, and is also the co-editor of Genre and Women's Life Writing in Early Modern England. Dowd is currently in the process of writing several other pieces, including an anthology of works by 17th-century Englishwomen.