Cheri Register
Selected Bibliography
Mothers-Saviours-Peacemakers: Swedish Women Writers in the Twentieth Century (1983)
Living With Chronic Illness: Days of Patience and Passion (1987)
Are Those Kids Yours?: American Families With Children Adopted From Other Countries (1990)
The Chronic Illness Experience: Embracing the Imperfect Life (1999)
Packinghouse Daughter: A Memoir (2000)
Beyond Good Intentions: A Mother Reflects On Raising Internationally Adopted Children (2005)
Cheri Register (April 30-1945-March 7, 2018) grew up in Albert Lea, Minnesota. Her father worked in a meat packinghouse, and when Register was fourteen, there was a strike, which she wrote about in one of her memoirs. Register earned her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D from the University of Chicago where she studied Scandinavian Languages and Literature. She co-founded the Emma Willard Task Force, which focused on gender equality in education and actively pursued feminism in education. In the 1970s, Register helped create the Women’s Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, where she taught for several years. She also taught at the Loft Literary Center.
Register’s memoirs are noted for bringing light to misunderstood or overlooked topics and for being meticulously researched. Her book Packinghouse Daughter, about the 1959 meat packer strike that divided her hometown, won a Minnesota Book Award and an American Book Award. She also wrote two books about international adoption, based on her own experience raising two Korean children. Additionally, Register wrote two books about chronic illness, which she suffered with.