By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Residents in Livingston and Washtenaw counties are invited to attend a virtual event on Monday with this year’s Great Michigan Read author who will discuss her latest novel.

Author Mary Doria Russell will discuss “The Women of Copper Country” on Monday at 6:30pm. The novel is described as a riveting account of 25-year-old Annie Clements as she stood up for the copper miners and their families in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula during the 1913 strikes. The event is being hosted by the Hamburg Township Library and the Pinckney Community Public Library.

The Great Michigan Read aims to connect Michiganders by deepening readers’ understanding of the state, society and humanity. A statewide panel of teachers, librarians, community leaders and book lovers select the Great Michigan Read book every two years.

Russell said she was honored to have her novel chosen for the 2022 Great Michigan Read. She spent time in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula and walked through the streets of Calumet where the novel takes place, toured the mines and visited local museums as she prepared to write her fictionalized account of Annie Clements.

Russell stated “The copper strike itself has been studied and written about by historians and legal experts, but those accounts are not meant to engage the reader’s emotions. That was my job – to combine imagination and empathy with research”.

Registration is required for Monday’s virtual event. A press release with registration information is provided.