Editing – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

Friend and editor Anna Weinstein’s book on Shonda Rhimes make Bloomsbury’s Essential New Books list for film students

Congratulations to my friend and editor Anna Weinstein!

The first book in her “Screen Storytellers” series, which is on The Works of Shonda Rhimes is on Bloomsbury’s Essential New Books list for film students.

I’m proud to have a chapter in the book discussing the idea that while most people think Rhimes is ‘only’ a feminist, her writings have always expressed an even wider humanist philosophy.

I can only hope that my upcoming The Works of Susan Harris will make the same list. Look for it in late 2026.

Women Making History Series now in Paperback!

I’m excited to announce that the book series I co-edit with my dear friend and colleague Peg Lamphier – Women Making History – are now available in paperback which makes the books more affordable for birthday and holiday gift-buying!

Our original publisher – ABC-Clio – (who published our award-winning Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4 volumes]) mostly sold to libraries, so hardbacks were the way to go, but Bloomsbury recently purchased them. That means ALL our previous biographies are now in paperback. That makes them much more affordable to our friends and colleagues.

The even cooler first news is that in the last few weeks 2 more of the biographies we shepherded saw publication – one on Dolores Huerta and the other on Sally Ride — so congratulations to authors April Tellez and Jackie Perez! And these 2 new ones will be in paperback about 18-24 months after release.

Here is the email blast Bloomsbury sent out to their list of 20,000 School librarians, 10,000 Academic librarians, and 9,000 public librarians for Women’s History Month:

That means our earlier co-written books: American Women’s History on Film and The Civil War on Film are also in paperback!

But never forget even in hardback it’s worth reminding folks to ask their local libraries to stock a copy so everyone in the neighborhood can read about these accomplished women.

Finally, we have 3 more books in the works right now on Bessie Coleman, Maria Tallchief, and Frida Kahlo with a few more in the works.

New Book: “Shaping Global Culture through Screen Writing: Women Who Write Our Worlds” Edited by Rose Farrell and Rosanne Welch – Available September 2025 [Books]

Shaping Global Culture through Screen Writing: Women Who Write Our Worlds by Rose Farrell and Rosanne Welch

See more at Intellect Discover

Excited to announce that the book I co-edited with my Australian friend, and Screenwriting Research Network colleague, Rose Ferrell will be available in Sept. 2025. Shaping Global Cultures Through Screenwriting: Women Who Write Our Worlds is a collection of international writers focused on women and the power of their words to change their worlds.

You’ll learn about the importance of the female perspective in the animated Bluey, female rap artists in North-West Nigeria, the desire-driven filmmaking of Celine Sciamma, the queer utopias of Miranda July’s Kajillionaire, translating blindness and homelessness into video games, and the indigenous roots of Latin American women’s cinema – and so much more. We’re excited about spreading these stories and publishing many first time chapter authors.

I want to thank Rose Ferrell for taking this editing journey with me and doing most of the heavy-lifting. Watch out for more info on when the book is available for purchase – and remember asking your local or college library to order a copy is just as good as buying one yourself.

Dolores Huerta: A Life in American History by April Tellez, Edited by Dr. Rosanne Welch an Dr. Peg Lamphier [Books]

Series co-editor Peg Lamphier and I are proud to congratulate author April Tellez on the publication of her first book with our “Women Making History” series from Bloomsbury. Dolores Huerta: A Life in American History is now available from their website and can be ordered from any independent bookseller you frequent. It’s a great time to read about a woman who is “one of the great contributors to American history, labor history, women’s history, and the history of activism, social justice, and human rights. Here, her story is told in a way that captures the full span of her life and achievements.”

April’s background as a history professor at Mt. San Antonio College who specializes in Chicanx, Native American, Women’s histories and in cultural resistance to settler colonization made her the perfect author for this book. We thank her for all the time and dedication it took the research (during Covid) and can’t wait for new readers to learn more about Dolores Huerta and all she’s done for fairness and equality for workers. She deserves her own national holiday!

Dolores Huerta: A Life in American History by April Tellez, Edited by Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dr. Peg Lamphier

Buy Today at Bloomsbury Press | Bookshop.org | Amazon

A comprehensive exploration of Dolores Huerta’s contributions to U.S. labor history and her life’s work of advocating for systematically disadvantaged and marginalized groups.

An iconic figure in American civil rights and one of the most influential labor rights activists of the 20th century, Huerta overcame great odds to make enduring contributions to social justice and advocacy, particularly for farm workers and the Latino community. Organized chronologically, this volume offers the opportunity for readers to better understand Huerta’s life. From her early beginnings in California’s central valley, to her influential leadership on the United Farm Workers (UFW) union, to her work educating on women’s issues and advocating for Latino representation in politics, readers will explore the many efforts that made Huerta’s influence enduring. Beyond a biography, this book places Huerta center stage in the context of American history, looking closely at the Chicano civil rights movement in California; social restrictions, disenfranchisement, and various forms of segregation in 1950’s and 1960’s America; historical labor strikes and boycotts; key legislation and political figures active in labor rights, and more. Huerta is one of the great contributors to American history, labor history, women’s history, and the history of activism, social justice, and human rights. Here, her story is told in a way that captures the full span of her life and achievements.

Buy Today at Bloomsbury Press | Bookshop.org | Amazon

New History Book: Wilma Mankiller: A Life in American History by Tamrala Swafford Bliss, Edited by Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dr. Peg Lamphier.

Buy at Your Local Bookstore | Bookshop.org | Amazon | ABC-CLIO

It’s always wonderful to share the nice news that the next book in the Women Making History series that I’m co-editing with my dear friend and colleague Peg Lamphier has been published by ABC-Clio this month. We want to congratulate author Tamrala Swafford Bliss for all her hard work on the life of Wilma Mankiller, the first female elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

We can’t wait to see the next few books in our series come to publication. The book on Delores Huerta was recently handed in, written by a colleague at Mt. San Antonio College, and one of our Stephens College MFA alums is scheduled to have her book on Sally Ride completed next year.

We know (being meant for libraries) that the volumes in this series are higher priced so we can’t ask everyone to buy a copy – but you can alert your local public or school library to their existence and ask that they by a copy for their stacks (or their Kindle offerings).

Women Making History Series Description

Women Making History is a series of single-volume books that examine the lives and historical impact of the most iconic figures in American Women’s history.

Books in the Women Making History series explore the lives and contributions of important women in American history. Each volume goes beyond biographical details to consider historical context and explicitly discuss the world in which the individual lived and worked, the challenges she faced, and her lasting contributions. This approach allows readers to explore not just the life of a particular woman but also her various political, social, cultural, and historical contexts. In addition to chronological chapters, sidebars, a timeline, document excerpts, and a bibliography, an introductory chapter explores the cultural and historical significance of the individual and places her in the overall historical context, as well as how her actions, beliefs, or positions influenced not only women’s history but history as a whole.

See the entire series on the ABC-CLIO Web Site

New History Book: Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life in American History by Keri F. Dearborn, Edited by Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dr. Peg Lamphier.

Buy at Your Local Bookstore | Bookshop.org | Amazon | ABC-CLIO

It’s time to celebrate the latest book in our series to be published – Keri Dearborn’s Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life in American History landed on my doorstep yesterday and I couldn’t be more excited to read it (even though I’ve already read it to edit it). It comes on the tail of my having watched The First Lady series on Showtime which we hope has interested a new generation in the life and times of this amazing woman.

As with all of our authors in the series, Keri’s research was fascinating to follow – my favorite new fact was learning (thanks to the release of new primary documents) that the scientists who talked to FDR about the Manhattan Project weren’t able to make an appointment with the president – but one of them was in a social club with Mrs. Roosevelt and used that connection to talk to her first. She’s the one who told FDR he had to meet with them.

Those are the great details all of our authors have found (or are still finding in the books that are being completed in the next year or so). We thank the authors whose books have been published (covering Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gloria Steinem, Hilary Clinton, and Helen Keller) – and look forward to the ones yet to come which cover the lives of Wilma Mankiller, Ida B. Wells, Sally Ride, and Delores Huerta.

Women Making History Series Description

Women Making History is a series of single-volume books that examine the lives and historical impact of the most iconic figures in American Women’s history.

Books in the Women Making History series explore the lives and contributions of important women in American history. Each volume goes beyond biographical details to consider historical context and explicitly discuss the world in which the individual lived and worked, the challenges she faced, and her lasting contributions. This approach allows readers to explore not just the life of a particular woman but also her various political, social, cultural, and historical contexts. In addition to chronological chapters, sidebars, a timeline, document excerpts, and a bibliography, an introductory chapter explores the cultural and historical significance of the individual and places her in the overall historical context, as well as how her actions, beliefs, or positions influenced not only women’s history but history as a whole.

See the entire series on the ABC-CLIO Web Site

New Book: Helen Keller: A Life in American History (Women Making History) Series by Meredith Eliassen, Edited by Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dr. Peg Lamphier

On the heels of Book #3 I’m proud to present Book #4 of the Women Making History Series that I am co-editing with my colleague Peg Lamphier.

We want to congratulate author Meredith Eliassen for all her hard work on bringing the life of Helen Keller to modern readers in a very modern way. We can’t wait to see the rest of the books in our series come to publication.

The Keller book is the last of this first batch while the others are still (as planned) in the writing stage. They include Sally Ride, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ida B. Wells, and Delores Huerta.

Talk about a wonderful line up of women who made history. It was so, sooo, sooooo hard to find under 100 women worthy of this project – and then we had to find the authors to bring them to life. That second part was easier since we had such a wealth of women writer friends to turn to. Read on!

Helen Keller: A Life in American History explores Keller’s life, career as a lobbyist, and experiences as a deaf-blind woman within the context of her relationship with teacher-guardian-promoter Anne Sullivan Macy and overarching social history. The book tells the dual story of a pair struggling with respective disabilities and financial hardship and the oppressive societal expectations set for women during Keller’s lifetime. This narrative is perhaps the most comprehensive study of Helen Keller’s role in the development of support services specifically related to the deaf-blind, as delineated as different from the blind.

Readers will learn about Keller’s challenges and choices as well as how her public image often eclipsed her personal desires to live independently. Keller’s deaf-blindness and hard-earned but limited speech did not define her as a human being as she explored the world of ideas and wove those ideas into her writing, lobbying for funds for the American Federation for the Blind and working with disabled activists and supporters to bring about practical help during times of tremendous societal change.

New Book: Hillary Clinton: A Life in American History (Women Making History) by Kathleen Gronnerud, Edited by Drs. Rosanne Welch and Peg Lamphier

Before you’ve even had time to finish reading the Gloria Steinem book it’s time to share the news about the publication of Book #3 in the Women Making History series that I’m co-editing with my colleague Dr. Peg Lamphier.

In this one author Kathleen Gronnerud covers the life of Hillary Clinton – everything from her work on education at the First Lady of Arkansas to her work on healthcare reform as First Lady to the country – to her own entrance into politics.

Or ask at your local bookstore. It’s always time to learn more about the brilliant women we chose to cover in this series!

While numerous volumes have been written about Hillary Clinton, many authors have devoted entire books to just one aspect of Clinton’s public or private life. Yet few, if any, single volumes have provided a comprehensive look at her life in public service from an objective, scholarly viewpoint.

Designed both for students doing research and general readers wanting to know more about Clinton’s life and career, this book not only offers an overview of her education, family, career, and political views, but also provides historical context to her choices, accomplishments, and defeats. The volume’s chapters present a chronological telling of her life story thus far including key experiences, influences, and the development of her political views. The volume also includes photographs and short sidebars, which help to tie Clinton’s personal experiences to the contemporaneous culture of the nation. A lengthy bibliography provides assistance to readers interested in further research or reading.

Now Available: Gloria Steinem: A Life in American History by William H. Pruden III, Edited by Drs. Rosanne Welch and Peg Lamphier

Good Morning to all our dedicated authors in the Women Making History series for ABC-Clio.

Peg and I wanted to share the nice news that Book #2 has been published and congratulate author Bill Pruden for all his hard work on the life of Gloria Steinem. We can’t wait to see the rest of the books in our series come to publication.

We know (being meant for libraries) that the volumes are higher priced so we can’t ask you all to buy a copy – but you can alert your local public or school library to their existence and ask that they buy a copy for their stacks (or their Kindle offerings). (Download A PDF Flyer for the book)

Stay safe and keep reading! — Rosanne and Peg

Announcing the Journal of Screenwriting Special Issue: Women in Screenwriting with Editors, Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dr. Rose Ferrell

I’m happy to announce the publication of a special issue of the Journal of Screenwriting focused on “Women in Screenwriting” that I co-edited with my SRN colleague Rose Ferrell, lecturer at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, at Edith Cowan University.

While focusing on females was our first mandate, our second mandate was to be as international as possible. This issue, then, includes articles about women in screenwriting covering five continents including countries such as Japan, China, Syria, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Zimbabwe and Canada. — Rosanne

Contents
Volume (11): Issue (3)
Cover date: 2020

Editorial introduction by Rose Ferrell, Rosanne Welch
Tang Cheng: The first female animation screenwriter and director in the People’s Republic of China by Shaopeng Chen
Scouting for scripts: Mizuki Yōko and social issue film in post-war Japan by Lauri Kitsnik
Who is the author of Neria (1992) – and is it a Zimbabwean masterpiece or a neo-colonial enterprise? by Agnieszka Piotrowska
The Hakawati’s Daughter: How the Syrian revolution inspired a rewrite by Rana Kazkaz
The silent women: The representation of Israeli female soldiers in Israeli women’s films by Mira Moshe, Matan Aharoni
How the scripts of Latin American screenwriters Lucrecia Martel (Argentina), Anna Muylaert (Brazil) and Claudia Llosa (Peru) have made a mark on the world stage by Margaret McVeigh, Clarissa Mazon Miranda
‘Polite, no chill’ for the win: How Emily Andras engaged fans and overcame problematic tropes in Wynonna Earp by Tanya N. Cook
Battle of the sketches: Short form and feminism in the comedy mode by Stayci Taylor
Anita Loos Rediscovered: Film Treatments and Fiction, Cari Beauchamp and Mary Anita Loos (eds) (2003) by Cierra Winkler
Modern Film Dramaturgy: An Introduction, Kristen Stutterheim (2019) by Andrew Wickwire
Nobody’s Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood, J. E. Smyth (2018) by Toni Anita Hull
How to Write for Moving Pictures: A Manual of Instruction and Information, Marguerite Bertsch (1917) by Diane Barley

Read article abstracts

The Journal of Screenwriting is an international double-blind peer-reviewed journal that is published three times a year. The journal highlights current academic and professional thinking about the screenplay and intends to promote, stimulate and bring together current research and contemporary debates around the screenplay whilst encouraging groundbreaking research in an international arena. The journal is discursive, critical, rigorous and engages with issues in a dynamic and developing field, linking academic theory to screenwriting practice.

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