Block Island Times

Author Lenore Skomal to speak at Southeast Light

Author Lenore Skomal is celebrating the 20th anniversary of her book “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter,” a popular biography of Newport’s Lightkeeper, Ida Lewis. Skomal says Lewis was “a true heroine in her time and someone that should be brought back to the national conscience.”Born in 1842, Ida Lewis became the keeper of the Lime Rock Light in Newport, R.I. at only 15 years old. Skomal writes: “Set against the backdrop of a country in turmoil and progress, including the Civil War and the Women’s Suffrage Movement, Ida’s seemingly unexceptional life took a drastic turn when the world discovered that she’d been silently saving the lives of countless sailors. Fame took her in hand and, overnight, she became an international sensation. Something she neither wanted nor got accustomed to.”Joining Skomal will be Los Angeles-based filmmaker Nico Raineau, who is making a large-scale feature film about her life.The event will be held at the Southeast Lighthouse on Friday, July 21 at 2 p.m. and is co-sponsored by the Southeast Lighthouse Foundation and Island Bound Bookstore.

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