The following entry was written by Audra Pace. Audra is our new Associate Editor here at READ and Writing magazines. Hopefully soon we will have a silly caricature and bio for her. For now, just her words will have to do...

Happy birthday, Mary Shelley!

Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, turns 210 today.  Even though she's not around to celebrate, we can at least celebrate her groundbreaking body of work.

Most everyone knows the story of Dr. Frankenstein, the mad scientist who attempts to create life but instead realizes he has royally messed with nature. The novel has often been viewed as a comment on the scientists of the Industrial Revolution, who perhaps bit off more than they could chew technologically.

Mary was a writer during the Romantic era, and eventually married a Romantic poet, Percy Shelley. (How Romantic!) She grew up with Romanticism--her academic father was close friends with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. It is rumored that she once hid under a couch in her parlor to hear Coleridge read his famous "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Can you blame her? Who hasn't stayed up past their bedtime to get their fill of Romantic poetry?

Frankenstein was originally published anonymously to protect the story (and Mary) from the nasty criticism that her gender would inevitably earn her. Mary was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, the 18th century proto-feminist who authored "The Vindication of the Rights of Woman." So, I guess we can see where Ms. Shelley got her gumption. It has taken all the way until half way through the 20th century for Mary to be credited as influential a member of the Romantic era as her colleagues (Wordsworth, Byron, her own husband, et al). So thanks for hanging in there Mary; we at READ know who wears the literary pants in your clan. And, once again, Happy Birthday!