Saul retired in 2010 after serving more than 22 years as lifestyle
editor of The Courier newspaper in Lincoln, where she received
numerous awards from the Illinois Press Association and the
Associated Press. Prior to her Courier job, she worked as a
freelance writer and photographer for numerous central Illinois
newspapers. Earlier in her career, she also wrote for the
Publications Division of the Indiana Department of Commerce, the
Public Information Office of Sangamon State University (now the
University of Illinois in Springfield), the Illinois State
Journal-Register, the Springfield Sun and the Mattoon
Journal-Gazette. She served as editor for the 50th anniversary
edition of The Progressive Miner.
The Central Illinois Branch, NLAPW, meets at 1:30 p.m. on the
third Thursday of each month at the Bloomington Public Library.
Professional women writers, artists or composers who are interested
in visiting a meeting may contact Betty Story, membership chairman,
at 309-664-0319 or
gl-bstory@comcast.net, or contact Saul at
loganilphotos@gmail.com.
The League of American Pen Women was organized in June 1897 by
Marian Longfellow O'Donoghue, niece of President William McKinley,
in protest of the way women writers were treated by their male
counterparts. O'Donoghue, who wrote for newspapers in Washington,
D.C., and Boston, invited fellow journalists Margaret Sullivan Burke
and Anna Sanborne Hamilton to join her in establishing a
"progressive press union" for Washington's female writers.
The group, including writers, a teacher and an artist, banded
together to seek mutual aid, advice and career advancement.
Professional credentials were required for membership as they are
today, and the women determined that Pen Women should always be paid
for their work.
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Today, the expanded mission of the organization includes
mentoring, encouraging and promoting emerging professional women in
the arts. In a time when arts in the classroom are being curtailed
or eliminated, the national organization also provides outreach
programs that give students a chance to discover and explore their
artistic gifts.
Additional information about the league is available at
www.nlapw.org.
The National League of American Pen Women was founded in 1921
with 35 local branches in various states. The organization is
headquartered in the historic Pen Arts Building in the DuPont Circle
area of Washington, D.C. First ladies have always been awarded
honorary memberships, and in some cases, such as Eleanor Roosevelt,
have actively participated in league functions. More than a decade
into its second century, league membership has included more than
55,000 professional women writers, artists and musicians.
[Text from file received]
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