Texas writer Carmen Goldthwaite will kick off the 2019 Speakers & Issues Series at Midwestern State University at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art. Her topic will be "Sassy Texas Women: Three Centuries of Ranchers, Spies, Gunrunners, Bankers, Lawyers & Educators."

Goldthwaite could be considered an expert on the topic of Texas women. A seventh-generation Texan herself, she is the author of Texas Ranch Women: Three Centuries of Mettle and Moxie (2014) and Texas Dames: Sassy and Savvy Women throughout Lone Star History (2012). Texas Ranch Women profiles approximately 20 Texas women who did not just live on a ranch, but ran the business and the cattle, fighting nature to hang onto their lives and families. Texas Dames tells stories of women who broke gender and racial barriers to achieve "firsts" as physicians, mayors, scientists, and other accomplishments.

Goldthwaite also is a career journalist, author, and teacher who has written for The New York Times; the Dallas Morning News, and the Houston Chronicle, with her reporting leading to statewide awards and syndication with Scripps Howard News Service.

Her novel, Whispering Spirit, was a finalist in two national contests. Her essay "Night Bull" appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miracles Happen. Another, "Burgers and Butterflies," appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Mothers and Daughters. Other publication credits include Wild West, True West, American Cowboy, Fort Worth Magazine, Persimmon Hill Magazine, and Latitudes & Attitudes Magazine.

Goldthwaite teaches creative writing and narrative nonfiction at Southern Methodist University. She has served as a director and past vice president-elect of Archives of Women of the Southwest at SMU's DeGolyer Library, Writer-in-Residence at Texas Christian University's Bob Schieffer College of Communication, and former director of the Friends of the Fort Worth Library.

The next Speakers & Issues guest will be Joe Rogers at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, in Dillard 101. His topic will be "A Brief Tour of Texas: Recent Archaeological Investigations around the State."

The Speakers and Issues Series began in 2001 with the idea of bringing informed and creative speakers to the academic and municipal communities. Since then, speakers have come to MSU from all corners of the country. It is supported by the Libra Foundation, MSU's Prothro-Yeager College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Wichita Falls Times Record News, KCCU-FM NPR Radio, and KFDX-TV3. Admission is free; donations are welcome. Contact Associate Professor of History Whitney Snow at whitney.snow@msutexas.edu for information.