Edna Ferber: Middlebrow Author, Copyright Pioneer
March 17, 2025
Erica Moulton, Assistant Professor, Literature, Writing & Film
The presentation explores the career of Edna Ferber, bestselling author of novels like Giant, So Big, and Show Boat and her (sometimes contentious) relationship with the Hollywood studios. She was a pioneer in the negotiation of motion picture rights and securing more control for authors over their works, even creating the first leasing contract where the rights to her novel eventually reverted back to her after a period of time. This presentation will also reflect on the nature of adaptation in Hollywood during the middle of the twentieth century, which created a blueprint for how Hollywood adapts bestselling novels to this day.
Lectures will be held on Mondays at 3 p.m. in the Olm Fellowship Hall of Fairhaven Senior Services, 435 West Starin Road, Whitewater. They are open to the public and registration is not required. Lectures may be recorded and posted to our Fairhaven Lecture website and YouTube channel. Videos of lectures in this series and in past series can be accessed for free any time after they are posted online.
Follow us on social media for more information. Any other questions, please contact Kari Borne at bornek@uww.edu or 262-472-1003.
