On Thursday, June 13 at 10 a.m., Skidompha Library and Chats with Champions will have as its speaker, Alex Myers who will speak about his book, “Revolutionary.” It is a fascinating retelling of the story of America’s first female soldier, Deborah Sampson Gannett, who ran away from home in 1782, successfully disguised herself as a man, and fought valiantly in the Revolutionary War. Please allow time for parking.

As a child, the writer traveled each Patriots Day with his family from their home in Paris, Maine, to visit his grandmother, a member of the Mayflower Society who took them to the annual reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. His grandmother’s stories about their famous ancestor, the woman who fought as a man during the Revolutionary War, grew in significance for Myers as he matured. As a little girl, when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, Myers recalls that he usually answered, “I want to be a boy.”

Alex left his home state to attend Phillips Exeter Academy and went on from there to earn degrees from Harvard and Brown, where he studied Ancient Judaism. Alex campaigned for transgender rights as a student at Phillips Exeter Academy and at Harvard, where he was the university’s first transgender student. He worked to change the University’s nondiscrimination clause to include gender identity.

Alex has taught high school English for over a decade and during this time earned an MFA in writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts. He and his wife now live in New Hampshire.

Chats with Champions is a free community offering from your national award-winning Skidompha Library and is sponsored by Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop. Recordings of many previous Chats are available on Skidompha Library's YouTube.com page. For more information call 563-5513 or online at www.skidompha.org