Courtesy of Lee & Low Books
Crystal Hubbard was a sports copy editor at the Boston Herald when she discovered Mabel Fairbanks. She was working until 1 a.m. and found the archive room, which held articles from throughout the paper’s history. “I came across this tiny, one-inch by two-inch article,” Hubbard says, “and I was just fascinated.”
Now, Hubbard has written and published her newest book, Marvelous Mabel: Figure Skating Superstar, which explores the life of Mabel Fairbanks, a Black figure skater from the 1930s who paved the way for other minorities to compete. Fairbanks would become the first person of African American and Native American descent to be inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame, and she trained many skating greats, including Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Rudy Galindo.
Marvelous Mabel is a children’s book illustrating Fairbanks’ struggles—including initially being barred from skating at her local rink and teaching herself to skate in her bedroom—and how she overcame them. Hubbard has also written books about other Black athletes, including Marcenia Lyle, Jimmy Winkfield, and Arthur Ashe.
“I love sharing stories of what I like to call ‘the most hidden figures,’” Hubbard says. “These are stories that have been out there, and a select few people know about them because they might be in the industry or they came across the story.”
Hubbard’s new book was published by Lee & Low Books on October 18, after what she says was a nearly 15-year development process.
“For me, books are pen-and-ink children, and it’s the same as with flesh-and-blood children,” she says.”It takes a while to bring it to maturity.”
To celebrate Marvelous Mabel, The Novel Neighbor is hosting a book launch at 6:30 p.m. on October 27. Hubbard explains that the local bookstore reached out to her about the book launch first, and she was happy to participate. The Novel Neighbor hosts book launches about once a month, says Stephanie Skees, director of events and curated collections for the local bookstore. Skees also says that the store was connected to Hubbard several months ago through one of her coworkers.
“This is the first book launch [Hubbard] has done since 2005, I believe,” Skees says. “So, we’ll just talk about what she’s been up to, what led to the creation of this book, and then there will be a personalization and signing session afterwards as well.” Skees says she expects a large crowd due to Hubbard’s local following.
“The community is always so supportive of whatever authors we’re bringing in,” Skees says. “The bookstore is so invested in St. Louis as a whole that any time we’re hosting a local author, it feels like another way that we can support our community and show our creative community how much we care about them.”
