Dorothy Dodge Robbins was the guest speaker at both NOLA STARs (North Louisiana's Chapter of Romance Writers of America) and Grave Expectations (Shreveport, LA Chapter of Sisters in Crime) guest speaker for the December 13th meeting.Dorothy Dodge Robbins is co-editor along with her husband, playwright Ken Robbins, of four volumes of seasonal literature, including Christmas Stories from Louisiana (University Press of Mississippi 2003), Christmas on the Great Plains (University of Iowa Press 2004), Christmas Stories from Georgia (University Press of Mississippi 2005), and Christmas Stories from Ohio (The Kent State University Press 2010). She served as volume editor for Critical Insights: Mrs. Dalloway (Salem Press, 2014). Dr. Robbins is the Charlotte Lewis Endowed Professor of English at Louisiana Tech University where she coordinates the Graduate Program in English. In addition to her work as an editor and a scholar, she teaches courses in Twentieth-Century British Novel, Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury, and Mystery and Detective Fiction. As caretaker of the university’s Shakespeare Garden, and an avid amateur gardener, most weekends she plays in the dirt.
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She did a wonderful power point presentation for NOLA STARs reminding us of historical Christmas stories, romance (even with corpses), murders, and the ghosts and supernatural spirits who have played key roles in winter tales. She offered autographed copies of her books, Christmas Stories from Louisiana being the most popular, and inspired us to create Christmas themed stories.
Plus, she included a bit about her cats, Miss Marple and Colonel Mustard.
In the less formal setting of Grave Expectations, she settled right into to the group of ladies and entertained as well as educated us on delightful way to kill someone off during the holiday season. Just kidding...well, maybe just a little. But mostly, she lead a delightful discussion of how murder mysteries were so popular during the holiday season.
I met Dorothy years ago while taking playwriting courses from her husband; however, when I see the two of them out at Louisiana Tech events, it is usually Ken I converse with, so I truly enjoyed her agreeing to come speak at my groups and this occasion to get to know Ken's "better half" :)
