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Donna Woolfolk Cross graduated cum laude from the University of
Pennsylvania with a B.A. in English. She moved to London, England, and worked as an editorial assistant for W.H. Allen and Company. Upon her return to the United States, Cross worked at Young and Rubicam, a Madison Avenue advertising firm, before going on to graduate school at UCLA for Literature and Writing.
Cross then moved to Syracuse, New York, with her husband and began teaching in the English department at an upstate New York college. She is the author of two books on language, Word Abuse and Mediaspeak, and coauthor of Speaking
of Words and Daddy's Little Girl. Her novel, Pope Joan, was adapted to film in 2009.
From the author's website
Donna Woolfolk Cross's website
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Q: Most people have never heard of Pope Joan. How did you
first learn of her existence?
A: I learned about Joan quite by accident. I was reading a book in
French and came across a reference to a pope named "Jeanne." At first
I
thought this was simply an amusing typographical error--"Jeanne"
(Joan)
for "Jean" (John). But the reference piqued my curiosity, and the next
day I went to the library and checked the Catholic Encyclopedia. Sure
enough, there was an entry on Joan--the woman who lived disguised as a man
and rose to become Pope of the Church in the ninth century.
Q: Does the Catholic Church officially recognize Joan's papacy?
A: Far from it. The Church position is that Joan's papacy is
nothing more than unsubstantiated legend. But there are more than five
hundred ancient manuscripts containing accounts of Joan's papacy,
including those of such acclaimed authors as Platina, Petrarch, and Boccaccio.
Q: So you're convinced that Joan really existed?
A: Given the obscurity and confusion of the times, it is impossible
to determine with certainty whether Joan existed or not. The truth of
what happened in a.d. 855 may never be fully known. That is why I chose
to write a novel and not a ...
Helen Castor is a historian of medieval England and a Bye-Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Her first book, Blood and Roses, was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2005 and won the English Association's ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Pope Joan
Try:
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by Helen Castor
Kimberly Cutter received her MFA from the University of Virginia. She was the West Coast Editor for W Magazine for four years. She has written for Harper's Bazaar, W, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, and Marie Claire, where ... (more)
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