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Simmons College to Host Noted Artist and Author Ann Fessler, Feb. 28

BOSTON (January 28, 2008) — Simmons College presents "The Girls Who Went Away," a lecture and film screening by noted artist and author Ann Fessler, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m.  The event, which is free and open to the public, will be in the Linda K. Paresky Conference Center, Main College Building, 300 The Fenway, in Boston.  A reception will follow.

Fessler will screen her film "Along the Pale Blue River," followed by a lecture on her work including a discussion of her book, "The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade." In conjunction with the current gallery exhibit "Lost in Place," the Trustman Gallery at Simmons College is hosting this special evening with Fessler.

(Reporters, note to arrange an interview with Ms. Fessler, contact Marcia Lomedico at 617-521-2268 or marcia.lomedico@simmons.edu)

Published by The Penguin Press in 2006, "The Girls Who Went Away" immediately garnered considerable critical praise from publications as diverse as "The Atlantic Monthly," the "Washington Post," the "San Francisco Chronicle," and "People Magazine."  In 2006, the book was a finalist for the Circle Award for Nonfiction by the National Book Critics, and in 2007 it received the Media Award from the American Adoption Congress.

Fessler is the chair of the photography department at Rhode Island School of Design. Her credits as an artist include having work in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney Museum of American Art, among many others.  She resides in Rhode Island.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the Simmons Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences as part of the "Careers in the Liberal Arts" series.  

Due to construction, parking is limited.  For alternative options, visit the Simmons parking website.  For more information, contact Marcia Lomedico at 617-521-2268, or visit the Trustman Art Gallery website.