Semi-Colon Club: The Keeper with Kelsey Ervick

Growing up playing on a top national soccer team in the 1980s, Kelcey Ervick and her teammates didn’t understand the change they represented. Title IX was enacted in 1972 with little fanfare, but to seismic effect; between then and now, girls’ participation in organized sports has exploded more than 1,000 percent.

Braiding together personal narrative, pop culture, literature, and history, Ervick tells the story of how her adolescence was shaped by this boom. Ervick also explores her role as a goalkeeper—a position marked by outsider status and observation—and reveals it has drawn some of the most famed writers of our time.

With wit and poignant storytelling, The Keeper brings to life forgotten figures who understood the importance of athletics to help women step into their confidence and power—and push for equality.

Full of 1980s nostalgia and heart, The Keeper is a celebration of how far we have come and a reminder of how far we have to go.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelcey Ervick is a writer and artist creating visual narratives in a variety of media. After more than a decade during which she earned a PhD and published books of literary fiction, Kelcey began to pursue new ways of telling stories through illustration, comics, and collage. Whether working on paper, a wood panel, or an iPad, Kelcey loves exploring the dynamic interplay of image and text.

Kelcey is the author of four award-winning books, including the graphic memoir, The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women's Lives (Avery Books/Penguin), winner of a 2023 Ohioana Book Award and featured in the New York Times Book Review's Holiday Gift Guide.

Her three previous award-winning books of fiction and nonfiction are The Bitter Life of Božena Němcová, Liliane's Balcony, and For Sale By Owner. She is co-editor, with Tom Hart, of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature.

Kelcey's work has appeared in The Rumpus, The Believer, Washington Post, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. She has received grants from the Indiana Arts Commission, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and New Frontiers in Arts and Humanities at Indiana University. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati and is a professor of English and creative writing at Indiana University South Bend.

Kelcey writes and draws stories of the creative life at her illustrated newsletter, The Habit of Art.

Host or Publisher Harriet Beecher Stowe House