Kingwood author revisits the women of Beowulf

Dr. Donnita Rogers

Dr. Donnita Rogers taught Beowulf for 16 years at Kingwood High School,
the University of Houston, Lone Star College, and the University of
Minnesota before retiring in 2001.

"I thought, somebody needs to give the women a voice," Rogers says. She does
that in her new novel, Faces In The Fire, which re-tells the story from
the perspective of Freawaru, daughter of King Hrothgar.

Rogers' novel tells the story from Freawaru's perspective and brings other
characters into the picture as well. "People have husbands and wives and
kids and servants and slaves, and they're all in there," she says.

Rogers' extensive research took her on trips to Scandinavia and to her
writing retreat in Lake of the Woods, Ontario. "I went to the mead-hall site
in Denmark, and where Beowulf maight have lived in the western shore of
Sweden."

Apart from adding a female perspective to one of Western literature's most
famous works, "what it made me get at was why people did what they did,"
Rogers says.

Still, Rogers didn't want to take too many liberties. "I wanted it to be
academically respectable," she says. "When we did the cover, the graphic
designer put horns on their heads, and I said 'no, no--that's a popular
misconception.' Imagine trying to fight with horns. Very awkward."

Rogers will present a dramatic reading of the book with harp accompaniment
on Thursday, March 24 at 5:30 p.m. at Kingwood High School. She will also
discuss and sign the book on Monday, March 28 at 7 p.m. at the Kingwood
Branch Library.