Shelley Blanton-Stroud:
The Messy Intersection of Fact and Fiction
Navigating the Challenges of Writing a Novel based on History
January 17, 2026, 11 a.m.
Finley Center in Santa Rosa
We’ll talk about the challenges and opportunities based on writing historical fiction. How much does your fiction “have” to adhere accurately to history? What happens, good and bad, when you diverge?
| About the Presenter: Shelley Blanton-Stroud grew up in California’s Central Valley, the daughter of Dust Bowl immigrants who made good on their ambition to get out of the field. Recently retired from teaching writing in California State University system, she continues to consult with writers in the energy industry. She has served as President of the Board of 916 Ink, an arts-based creative writing nonprofit for children, and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at Claremont McKenna College. She previously co-directed Stories on Stage Sacramento, where actors perform the stories of established and emerging authors. Her historical mystery series—Copy Boy, Tomboy, and Poster Girl—follows Jane Benjamin, a cross-dressing, tomato-picking, San Francisco gossip columnist who investigates crime stories that never make the front page. Her fourth novel, An Unlikely Prospect (She Writes Press, August 2025), is based on the little-known V-J Day San Francisco Peace Riot, featuring a widow publisher who fights to find her voice in 1945 journalism. |