Events › An Evening with Stephanie Land | Speaking of Books Author Series

Stark Library presents New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Land as part of the Dr. Audrey Lavin Speaking of Books Author Series.

Land, the author of instant New York Times bestseller Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, the basis for the hit Netflix series of the same name, joins us to recount her harrowing saga as a single mom navigating the bureaucratic nightmare of living below the poverty line.

At age 28, Land’s dream of attending college and becoming a writer is deferred when she and her seven month-old flee a violent home and move into a homeless shelter, lacking any form of reliable safety net.

After years of barely scraping by, Land graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Montana in 2014, and started a career as a freelance writer. Her viral essay for Vox, “I spent 2 years cleaning houses. What I saw makes me never want to be rich.”, later was expanded to become her New York Times bestselling memoir. The Boston Globe says of the book, “Land nails the sheer terror that comes with being poor, the exhausting vigilance of knowing that any misstep or twist of fate will push you deeper into the hole.” Maid was named as a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others, and was listed among President Obama’s summer reading list for 2019.

Land’s story serves as the inspiration for Netflix’s Golden Globe and Emmy Award-nominated original series Maid, starring Margaret Qualley alongside Andie MacDowell, Nick Robinson and Anika Noni Rose. A “story both captivating and relatable” (Fresh Air), Maid has drawn praise for its nuanced depictions of the realities of poverty and domestic violence. Writing in Rolling Stone, critic Alan Sepinwall observed, “little things that would be forgettable elsewhere — a small job going well, a friend opening her door without judgment — land with thunderbolt force.” Land served as an executive producer on the project in addition to showrunner Molly Smith Metzler, John Wells (ER, The West Wing, Shameless), and Margot Robbie, among others. The show is one of Netflix’s most watched series ever with over 469 million hours viewed that reached over 67 million households in its first month. According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the call volume in the month following the show’s premier was higher than any other month in its 25-year history.

Books will be available for purchase.

Maid

Thank you to our sponsors:

Gold Sponsors:

Domestic Violence Project, Inc.

United Way of Greater Stark County

Silver Sponsor:

COMPASS Rape Crisis, an affiliate of Goodwill Industries of Greater Cleveland and East Central Ohio

Stark County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery

Bronze Sponsor

Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health

YWCA of Canton