Presenter of
the National Book Awards
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Presenter of
the National Book Awards
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Joy McCullough writes books and plays from her home in the Seattle area, where she lives with her husband and two children. More about this author >
Filed in the following archives
Her mother died when she was twelve, and suddenly Artemisia Gentileschi had a stark choice: a life as a nun in a convent or a life grinding pigment for her father’s paint.
She chose paint.
By the time she was seventeen, Artemisia did more than grind pigment. She was one of Rome’s most talented painters, even if no one knew her name. But Rome in 1610 was a city where men took what they wanted from women, and in the aftermath of rape Artemisia faced another terrible choice: a life of silence or a life of truth, no matter the cost.
