Local Author of Books for Children to be Second Speaker in Forbes/Smith Series

Linda Shaughnessy, author of a number of children's books about championship athletes, will present the second lecture in the new series, "Sundays at Two," sponsored by the Friends of Forbes Library and Smith College. The talk will be at 2 p.m., Sunday, February 28, at Forbes Library.

Shaughnessy has written the stories of figure skaters Michelle Kwan, Scott Hamilton, Oksana Bauil and Elvis Stojko. Her most recent work, a biography of tennis champion Martina Hingis, will be published this year.

A graduate of the University of Massachusetts with a degree in geology, Shaughnessy began writing as a child with journals, poems, songs and a novel-when she was 11 years old. She reports that in her adult life she pursued several avenues, including folk singing and computer programming "before taking up writing seriously again." (Along with her writing life, she is a secretary/receptionist in the music department at Smith College.)

An ice hockey skater in her youth, Shaughnessy decided while skating at the Mullins Center several years ago that she would write a book "having to do with ice skating," which turned out to be not one book but four biographies of young figure skaters.

"As research for the books, I traded in my hockey skates and took lessons, proving that it is never too late to learn to do the toe loop and salchow jumps," she says.

During her presentation at Forbes Library, Shaughnessy says she will read from her works and "talk about the process of writing and learning to do what you don't know how to do."

Shaughnessy's lecture, which will be appropriate for both adults and young people, is free, open to the public, and wheelchair accessible and will be followed by a book signing.

The third and final lecture in this year's "Sunday's at Two" series will be presented by Martin Antonetti, curator of rare books at Smith College, on April 25 at Smith's Neilson Library.