I was pleased to have been asked to contribute a chapter the Volume 2 of Stories of the Holocaust: Art for Healing and Renewal: On Screen and in the Gallery, edited by Karen Berman & Gail Humphries. It gave me a chance to celebrate the hard work and deep care taken by screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett (The Thin Man, It’s a Wonderful Life) when they were asked to adapt The Diary of Anne Frank first into the Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play, and then the Academy Award-winning film.
Then I was invited to present on my chapter at a museum exhibition in Jacksonville, Florida, which introduced me to several other chapter authors. Then I was invited to the book’s debut at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C., where I met some of the international authors.
This week, this review of the books came out last week. I felt quite honored that out of over 20+ chapters, the Kirkus Reviewer chose to mention mine:
“Dr. Rosanne Welch, executive director of the MFA program at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, offers a scholarly exploration of cinematic and theatrical representations of Anne Frank.”
Our MFA candidates and alums know that I have researched Goodrich and Hackett extensively, so this was a great example of how we can continue sharing the knowledge we have gained in our research. Being able to publish that research in this book series made me very proud and brought me many new colleagues, and that momentum continues!