By DAVID CAMPHOUSE
Kate Moore
Our Town Books will present bestselling author Kate Moore on Friday, September 26, 2025, at Rammelkamp Chapel for a public discussion of her book The Woman They Could Not Silence. The event will run from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at 215 Park Street and is part of the bookstore’s ongoing commitment to literary programming and community engagement.
Moore’s book explores the true story of a woman confined to the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville in the mid-19th century. Her resistance to institutionalization and advocacy for legal reform became a catalyst for change in women’s rights and mental health policy. The hospital, established in 1847, serves as the central setting for the narrative.
Tickets for the event are $20 and include admission, promotional items from Our Town Books, and access to a book signing and photo opportunity with the author. Attendees who do not already own a copy of the book are encouraged to select the Ticket + Book option, with books available for pickup at the store or by mail.
To ensure all guests have time with Moore, organizers request that attendees bring no more than one book for signing.
The event is open to the public and is expected to draw interest from readers, historians, and advocates of social reform.
Among other books, Moore is the author of The Radium Girls, which won the 2017 Goodreads Choice Award for Best History, was voted U.S. librarians’ favourite nonfiction book of 2017 and became a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller.
A British writer based in England, Moore writes across multiple genres including history, biography, true crime and gift, and has had many titles on the Sunday Times bestseller list. Her work has been featured across international media and translated into more than fifteen languages. A born public speaker, Kate regularly tours her books and is equally at home spinning stories onstage as she is writing them on her laptop.
