The Woman Behind The Help

When critics start to compare your first published novel to To Kill a Mockingbird, you know you’ve earned your spot among the literary elite. Kathryn Stockett’s The Help is a national hit with book clubs, and soon Emma Stone and Sissy Spacek will grace the big screen in the movie...

By Elizabeth Bair

April 28, 2011

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When critics start to compare your first published novel to To Kill a Mockingbird, you know you’ve earned your spot among the literary elite. Kathryn Stockett’s The Help is a national hit with book clubs, and soon Emma Stone and Sissy Spacek will grace the big screen in the movie adaptation of the popular novel. The story unfolds in Jackson, Mississippi, in the early 1960s, at the height of the civil rights movement. Skeeter, a white socialite and recent Old Miss graduate, returns home to a disappointed mother who would rather see Skeeter with a wedding band than a diploma. Aibileen, a maid raising 17 children for her employers, and her outspoken best friend Minny join with Skeeter for a surreptitious project, a book about maids and their employers. Now you can meet the author yourself when she visits First Presbyterian Church, 408 Park Ave., as part of the Dallas Museum of Art’s Arts and Letters Live series. Tickets are $15 for students, $38.50 for adults (includes copy of The Help). Visit dallasmuseumofart.org for tickets and more information.
Tue., May 3, 7:30 p.m., 2011

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