‘Skirting Traditions,’ Arizona Press Women anthology, now available

Skirting Traditions: Arizona Women Writers and Journalists 1912-2012 releases today, Feb. 1. The Arizona Press Women anthology was the culmination of almost three years of effort.

Written by 18 award-winning members of APW, the anthology is designated as an Arizona Centennial Legacy Project by the Arizona Historical Advisory Commission, and will be promoted at state events throughout the centennial period, beginning with an expo on the state capitol grounds in conjunction with Arizona’s 100th birthday on Feb. 14.

To order the 308-page paperback, which retails for $22.95, visit the Tucson-based publisher Wheatmark,  Amazon or Barnes & Noble. An e-version of the book is planned for a later release. It can also be ordered through brick-and-mortar book stores, ISBN is 9781604945973.

For more information on the project, go online to Skirting Traditions; like the Facebook page, follow on Twitter or email the editors.

Skirting Traditions is a history book, presented as a collection of short stories, moving forward from the beginning of statehood in 1912 to the modern day. Each story chronicles the life of a woman writer or journalist in Arizona who made a significant contribution to the history of the state, beginning with Sharlot Hall, who campaigned to have Arizona admitted to the Union as a separate state, and ending with Jana Bommersbach and Pam Knight Stevenson. The women who appear in the book were chosen through a nomination process and are representative of many others throughout the state during the centennial period.

“We anticipate that the public, historians, journalists and devotees of the Old West will be interested in reading about the remarkable women profiled in this anthology,” says Brenda Warneka, a co-editor who conceived of the project.

Other co-editors are Carol Hughes, Lois McFarland, June P. Payne, Sheila Roe and Pam Knight Stevenson.

The stories in Skirting Traditions were researched and written by members of APW, who, in addition to the coeditors, include Gail Bornfield, Vera Marie Badertscher, Carol Osman Brown, Jan Cleere, Jane Eppinga, Marion E. Gold, Carol Jean La Valley, Barbara Bayless Lacy, Elizabeth Bruening Lewis, Patricia Myers, Marion Peddle and Arlene Uslander.

The Skirting Traditions book project is sponsored by the National Federation of Press Women Education Fund, a 501 (c)(3) organization. Proceeds from sales will fund scholarships for Arizona journalism students at Arizona institutions of higher learning.