“People Who Fill the Spaces”: Jodi Picoult and the Sarah Josepha Hale Award

This paper discusses the implications of Sarah Josepha Hale’s polarizing opposition to franchise women on her legacy award, given many authors since its inception, but most notably contemporary writers whom Hale likely would have rejected. In 2019, award went Jodi Picoult, an author who bridges journalistic writing topics such as abortion, white supremacy, and gun violence, among others, with fiction novel writing. own works are archived through Richards Free Library, such, is for entire collective body work one nominated literary person. The impacts not only Picoult’s career open opposer women, well opportunities writers.