This isn’t really a blog post. It’s an announcement of coming attractions.

In case you missed the memo, March is Women’s History Month in the United States.

Like most of the people I know who work in and around women’s history, I have mixed feelings about it. I love the fact that libraries, schools, community groups and mainstream media are inspired to celebrate the achievements of women: the famous, the infamous, the forgotten, the erased. (There is even an official government website devoted to it. https://womenshistorymonth.gov/) I hate the fact that as a culture we still see women’s history as something apart rather than simply history.

But the realities being what they are, we’re going to celebrate Women’s History Month here in the Margins the same way we’ve celebrated for the last two years, with a series of mini-interviews with people who write about or otherwise work with women’s history. Unlike the rest of the year, there will be new posts Monday through Friday. (If you want to rev yourself up, you can read all the previous interviews here.)

I’ve got a great mix of people lined up to talk about a wide range women, from queens to con artists. First up on Monday: English professor Etta Madden, talking about American women in Italy in the nineteenth century and the challenges of writing about someone best known as the “wife of”.

Pull out your party hats and noisemakers and get ready to read! We’re going to have Big Fun.