Eve Sprunt is the author of A Guide for Dual-Career Couples, Rewriting the Rules and co-author of A Guide to Career Resilience, For Women and Under-Represented Groups. Her latest book, Passionate Persistence: The Life of My Mother, Ruth Chew, explores her mother’s life as a popular children’s author and illustrator.
Let’s start by talking a bit about your writing process. What inspires you as a reader and as a writer?
(ES): Writing has played a huge role in my career. I realized very early that if I documented my technical work in writing, it was more difficult for men to steal the credit. I also learned that taking risks (and as I envisioned) walking a tightrope, I was more likely to succeed than if I were risk-averse.
Although all of my degrees are in geophysics (BS and MS from MIT and Ph.D. from Stanford where I was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in Geophysics), early in my career, I realized that I had a better chance of staying employed if I impersonated an engineer. When I served as the senior technical editor of the Society of Petroleum Engineers in the 1990’s, I had a monthly column in the society’s publication. I leveraged that column to address the issues bedeviling the rank and file technical professionals.
Later in my career when I was working in management roles, I was horrified that my employer was requiring female members of dual-career couples to declare whose career took precedence instead of offering opportunities and letting the couples decide what they were willing to sacrifice to advance. I collaborated with other women across the petroleum industry and leveraged several professional societies to gather information on issues facing dual-career couples. Immediately after I retired, I began writing A Guide for Dual-Career Couples, Rewriting the Rules, which was published by Praeger in 2016.
When I read the letters my aunt wrote in the 1950’s while she was in Pakistan on sabbatical from her position as an English instructor at Mills College, I was enthralled. My aunt never shared the full story with her family! An American man she encountered while touring northern Pakistan by herself, came to see her in Oakland and repeatedly begged her to marry him. After twice rejecting his marriage proposals, she decided to sacrifice her career for love. When I read her love letters, I was mesmerized. I felt compelled to share her story and did so in Dearest Audrey, An Unlikely Love Story, which I self-published in 2019.
In 2020, I co-authored Mentoring and Sponsoring, Keys to Success, which was published by Springer, with an Italian-Venezuelan friend, Maria-Angela Capello, while she was working in Kuwait. We have never lived in the same place at the same time and all of our collaboration has been done remotely.
Then I persuaded Maria Angela Capello to co-author A Guide to Career Resilience, For Women and Under-Represented Groups,which was published by Springer in 2022. Our male editor at Springer insisted we tone down the book, but we still managed to hit most of the issues we felt were important.
What do you tend to read in your free time, and can you share a recent book or piece that impacted you?
(ES): I prefer to read non-fiction, because then I have to accept that the improbable events are real. I loved Sonia Purnell’s A Woman of Importance, The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II. Despite having a prosthetic leg and battling sexual discrimination within her own organization, the heroine accomplished seemingly impossible tasks.
Could you tell me a little more about your latest book, Passionate Persistence: The Life of My Mother, Ruth Chew? What encouraged you to write a biography of your mother’s life as a children’s author and illustrator?
(ES): My mother, Ruth Chew, became a very successful children’s book author and illustrator after I left home. Her first book, The Wednesday Witch, sold over a million copies and she went on to author and illustrate 28 more children’s chapter books and was also asked to illustrate Shark Lady. My mother kept a daily journal, but made it clear we were never to read it. During the pandemic, many years after her death, I decided, “What’s the point in keeping her diaries if no one ever reads them. So, I did. It was like opening Pandora’s box. What I learned, I couldn’t forget. Passionate Persistence, The Life of My Mother, Ruth Chew (Author of The Wednesday Witch) is based on what I learned from her diaries. I thought I would be writing about how against tremendous odds, she became a great success, but was horrified to discover that after I left home, my younger siblings were left to fend for themselves. Her story was much more complex than I realized. Mother used to say, “I’m an eleven year-old trapped in an adult’s body.” Reading her diaries, I realized that she may have been so successful because her empathy level matched that of her elementary school readers.
You have an extensive professional background in engineering and the energy industry. When did you first realize that you’d like to pursue a technical degree? What advice do you have for young women interested in pursuing technical careers?
(ES): My mother wanted me to be an artist like her, but I like science and applied for admission to MIT, where for the first time in my life, I felt as if I belonged. Don’t let anyone tell you, “You can’t.” Get the best education you can and shoot for the stars. You can “have everything” – a career and a family. Keep an open mind. The people who you think would be less likely to support you may be your strongest advocates. Middle Eastern men (both Christian and Muslim) have been my strongest supporters, advocates and friends!
In a similar vein, do you have any tips for new writers?
(ES): Don’t listen to anyone who says, “You can’t.” If you care enough, you can figure out a way to do anything.
Are there any exciting projects that you’re currently working on, or would like to start one day soon?
(ES): I’m working on a memoir about my career and am revising the approximately 92,000 words of my draft.
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