tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76507385036318996402024-03-13T22:26:30.272-04:00Reading MattersYour guide to good reads, authors and all things literary in the Carolinas.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger537125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-90621050985784718472015-02-24T06:30:00.000-05:002015-02-24T07:14:14.176-05:00U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Wright reading at Davidson College Thursday<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-s-charles-wright-master-meditative-named-us-poet-laureate" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://news.virginia.edu/sites/default/files/Charles_Wright_07_DA.jpg" height="393" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="590" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Wright by Dan Addison</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
"It's not just a bunch of words," says U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Wright. "Language has purpose," The 1957 Davidson graduate will be the star of "An Evening with Charles Wright" at 8 p.m. on Thursday in Duke Family Performance Hall on the Davidson College campus.<br />
Wright chose Davidson as an undergraduate because his parents wanted him to have a proper education. He majored in history, but his greatest desire was to write fiction. One thing he learned at Davidson was that he was not a storyteller -- a shock for the Tennessee-born student.<br />
<br />
He gave up on the idea of writing fiction, but later, in Italy, Wright happened on the poems of Ezra Pound, and, as he told the Paris Review, "I discovered a form that seemed suited to my mental and emotional inclinations -- the lyric poem, a form that seemed suited to my mental and emotional inclinations -- the lyric poem, a form, or subgenre, I guess, that didn't depend on a narrative structure, but on an imagistic one, an associational one."<br />
<br />
The author of 20 books, Wright has won every prize awarded to poets, including the Pulitzer Prize. He is retired from the University of Virginia where he taught English literature and creative writing.<br />
<br />
The reading is free and open to the public. However, tickets are required. They are available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Alvarez College Union ticket office. They are also available for $3 by calling the ticket office (704-894-2135) or by <a href="http://www.davidson.edu/the-arts/ticket-office">reserving online</a>.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt sans-serif; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-transform: none; width: 1px;">
<br />
Read Tmore here: http://readinglifeobs.blogspot.com/search?q=Charles+Wright#storylink=cpy</div>
<br />
<h2>
</h2>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-17982158979830754532015-02-19T08:17:00.000-05:002015-02-19T10:58:08.978-05:00The Body Tourist author at Park Road Books this Saturday<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://www.unityofchattanooga.org/dana-shavin/" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://www.unityofchattanooga.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/2014-08-10-Dana-Shavin-web-with-background.jpg" height="250" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 72px;" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dana Shavin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Reviewers have been calling Dana Shavin's memoir, <b>The Body Tourist</b>, riveting, brilliant, witty, insightful, courageous and ...excruciating.<br />
<br />
<b>The Body Tourist</b> is the Atlanta native's personal journey into and out of anorexia. One reviewer calls it "the biography of an illness as stubborn as the woman determined to kill it.."<br />
<br />
Another reviewer says Shavin can "write with both hands."<br />
<br />
You can hear the author read and talk about her book at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Park Road Books.<br />
<br />
A former therapist, Shavin now makes her living as certified life coach and as an artist and a writer. Since 2002, she has been a monthly columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, and she is editor of the Chattanooga Jewish Federation newspaper, the Shofar.<br />
<br />
<b>WHAT:</b> Dana Shavin will read and sign copies of <b>The Body Tourist. </b><br />
<br />
<b>WHEN:</b> 11 a.m., Saturday<br />
<br />
<b>WHERE</b>: Park Road Books, Park Road Shopping Center, 4139 Park Rd., Charlotte, 28209.<br />
<br />
<b>COST:</b> Free and open to the public.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span>
<br />
<hr style="clear: both; visibility: hidden; width: 100%;" />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-12448525219035430432015-02-18T06:30:00.000-05:002015-02-18T17:45:17.449-05:00Dan Fesperman to talk on drones at Park Road Books Friday <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAgQjRw" href="http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/book-review-arms-maker-berlin-dan-fesperman/" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://openlettersmonthly.com/issue/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/danfesperman.jpg" height="268" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 100px;" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fesperman</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Drones. The very word sounds invasive.<br />
<br />
On Friday, at 5:30 p.m., at Park Road Books, <b>Dan Fesperman</b>, a Charlotte native and a 1972 graduate of Olympic High School, will talk about his new thriller -- his ninth -- called <b>"Unmanned" (Knopf, $26.95).</b><br />
<br />
A former reporter for the Baltimore Sun, Fesperman draws his plots from his own international assignments to Pakistan, Germany, Bosnia, Afghanistan and the Middle East.<br />
<br />
Reviewing the novel for the Wall Street Journal, Howard Gordon says:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Dan Fesperman's excellent and timely ninth thriller, Unmanned, "...explores the ethical conundrums of the most potent new weapon in the American arsenal: the unmanned aerial drone. Watching our enemy from the sky is one thing, but what if those same eyes are looking down at us? And who is watching the watchers? Unmanned is a smart and thoughtful exploration of the unintended consequences of waging war by remote control."</b></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div class="sliderBox">
<div class="middleBlock">
<div class="sector" id="article_sector">
<br />
<article class="column
at8-col7
at12-col11 at16-col15" id="article-contents" maincontentofpage=""><div class="column
col7
at16-col9 at16-offset1">
<div class="module">
<div class="zonedModule" data-module-id="7" data-module-name="article.app/lib/module/articleBody" data-module-zone="article_body">
<!-- articleBody16u --><br />
<div class="article-wrap" data-sbid="SB10001424052970204587804580105623309419904" id="wsj-article-wrap" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="clearfix byline-wrap">
<div class="byline">
</div>
</div>
<b>WHAT</b>: Dan Fesperman reads and answers questions about his new novel.</div>
<div class="article-wrap" data-sbid="SB10001424052970204587804580105623309419904" id="wsj-article-wrap" itemprop="articleBody">
<b>WHEN</b>: 5:30 p.m. Friday</div>
<div class="article-wrap" data-sbid="SB10001424052970204587804580105623309419904" id="wsj-article-wrap" itemprop="articleBody">
<b>WHERE</b>: Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road, Park Road Shopping Center, Charlotte, 28209</div>
<div class="article-wrap" data-sbid="SB10001424052970204587804580105623309419904" id="wsj-article-wrap" itemprop="articleBody">
<b>COST</b>: Free and open to the public.</div>
<div class="article-wrap" data-sbid="SB10001424052970204587804580105623309419904" id="wsj-article-wrap" itemprop="articleBody">
</div>
<div class="article-wrap" data-sbid="SB10001424052970204587804580105623309419904" id="wsj-article-wrap" itemprop="articleBody">
</div>
<div class="units12wide newFooter" in-at12units-class="units12wide" in-at16units-class="units16wide" in-at4units-class="nix" in-at8units-class="units8wide" intent="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</article></div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="dhtmlbanner" style="display: none; left: 950px; position: absolute; top: 143px; visibility: visible; width: 300px; z-index: 10000000;">
<param name="_cx" value="7937" /><param name="_cy" value="6614" /><param name="FlashVars" value="" /><param name="Movie" value="http://amch.questionmarket.com/static/wsj_fullsuit_li-300x250-1l-eng-nul.swf?clickTag=JAVASCRIPT:DL_GotoSurvey();&clickTag2=JAVASCRIPT:DL_Close();" /><param name="Src" value="http://amch.questionmarket.com/static/wsj_fullsuit_li-300x250-1l-eng-nul.swf?clickTag=JAVASCRIPT:DL_GotoSurvey();&clickTag2=JAVASCRIPT:DL_Close();" /><param name="WMode" value="Transparent" /><param name="Play" value="0" /><param name="Loop" value="0" /><param name="Quality" value="High" /><param name="SAlign" value="" /><param name="Menu" value="-1" /><param name="Base" value="" /><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="Scale" value="ExactFit" /><param name="DeviceFont" value="0" /><param name="EmbedMovie" value="0" /><param name="BGColor" value="CCCCCC" /><param name="SWRemote" value="" /><param name="MovieData" value="" /><param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="1" /><param name="Profile" value="0" /><param name="ProfileAddress" value="" /><param name="ProfilePort" value="0" /><param name="AllowNetworking" value="all" /><param name="AllowFullScreen" value="false" /><param name="AllowFullScreenInteractive" value="" /><param name="IsDependent" value="0" /><param name="movie" value="http://amch.questionmarket.com/static/wsj_fullsuit_li-300x250-1l-eng-nul.swf?clickTag=JAVASCRIPT:DL_GotoSurvey();&clickTag2=JAVASCRIPT:DL_Close();" /> <param name="loop" value="false" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <param name="scale" value="exactfit" /> <param name="bgcolor" value="#CCCCCC" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-75206211702558816242015-02-16T06:30:00.000-05:002015-02-24T08:15:44.820-05:00Poet Philip Levine dead at 87: Home and far from home<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmoreintelligentlife.com%2Fcontent%2Farts%2Flee-siegel%2Fphilip-levine-worker-poet&ei=XE_hVPn2A8uaNsPGgsgD&bvm=bv.85970519,d.eXY&psig=AFQjCNG2MS8yeNdoST2rmAMWhmGicWLhxw&ust=1424138444759001" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://moreintelligentlife.com/sites/default/files/legacy/levine2.jpg" height="335" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 29px;" width="471" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Philip Levine</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I didn't know the poet Philip Levine. I never met him, and I never heard him read, except on the Bill Moyers show in 2013 on TV.<br />
But I loved him from afar.<br />
Called the working man's poet, Levine died Saturday of pancreatic and liver cancer in Fresno, Calif. He was 87.<br />
Born in 1928 in Detroit to Russian-Jewish immigrants, Levine grew up in the midst of the Great Depression. His heroes were the ordinary folks who worked at hopeless jobs simply to stave off poverty. Noted for his interest in the grim reality of the blue-collar worker, Levine resolved "to find a voice for the voiceless" while working from age 13 in the auto plants of Detroit. A former U.S. Poet Laureate, Levine won the Pulitzer Prize, twice the National Book Award, and in 2014, the $100,000 Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award for lifetime achievement. <br />
<br />
Here's one of my favorite of his poems. <br />
<br />
<b>SWEETNESS</b><br />
<br />
<b>Sixteen years ago, in the high meadows</b><br />
<b>on the French side of the mountains, a clear</b><br />
<b>April morning, a warm wind slowing</b><br />
<b>through the young grains and grasses, the sun</b><br />
<b>touching everything with yellow light, I called</b><br />
<b>to my son Teddy, then fifteen, to come see,</b><br />
<b>and he left the car to stand beside me. He spoke</b><br />
<b>first, in a voice the wind half-swallowed, to say</b><br />
<b>something about the sweetness and the air</b><br />
<b>at this height. I had been asking a farmer</b><br />
<b>if he knew was the pass to Adorra open. Yes,</b><br />
<b>of course, on a day like this, and he laughed</b><br />
<b>his great laugh, a thickly built man</b><br />
<b>sweating in the open wool shirt high above</b><br />
<b>me on the tractor seat. I felt my wife's hand</b><br />
<b>in mine, squeezing, and turned in time to see</b><br />
<b>her holding back the tears for a moment before</b><br />
<b>they overflowed. Just the three of us, home and far</b><br />
<b>from home, a tiny family on so vast a plain,</b><br />
<b>with forty miles to go, yet were there.</b><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-35523207481329991602015-02-13T06:30:00.000-05:002015-02-14T09:41:38.300-05:00Anne Tyler on inspiration, routine and the power of the unconcious<div id="irc_mimg">
<a data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-anne-tyler-20150208-story.html" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-54d3abdb/turbine/la-ca-jc-anne-tyler-20150208" height="272" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 61px;" width="483" /></a></div>
<br />
Pulitzer-winning novelist <b>Anne Tyler</b>, whose 20th novel, <b>"A Spool of Blue Thread,"</b> was published last week by Knopf, was interviewed in the summer of 1992 by the Virginia Quarterly Review. She talks about not relying on inspiration, on what makes a routine and how sleep often solves her writing problems.<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Tyler doesn’t wait for an inspiration before she begins writing. She
makes writing a routine, reviewing a bit of her previous day’s work and
then starting again, following the characters through the plots. “It’s
like playing dolls,” she
believes. “Writing is a sort of way of disobeying two major rules I
heard as a child: stop daydreaming and stop staring into space.” To
Tyler, tapping her imagination “is really an extension of day dreaming. I
just sit around thinking “What if?” about things.” The process of
writing for Tyler is one of continual discovery.</b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b> Tyler has been writing thoughts and observations on white, unlined
index cards since high school. The cards are eventually filed in a small
metal box; divided by chapter number, the box also has “extra,”
“general,” “look up,” and “revise” sections.</b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b> When starting a novel, Tyler reads through her file of cards and
selects ones that bring to mind interesting associations, looking for a
story that will tie them together. As characters emerge and develop in
her imagination, she explores their personalities. Before she begins
writing, she insists on knowing her characters intimately so that she
will understand each person’s reaction to the events that occur. Only
after this preparatory period is over will she be able to outline the
novel, using a single sheet of paper and one or two sentences
per chapter.</b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b> While she sleeps, she told an interviewer, “some sort of automatic
pilot works then to solve problems in my plots; I go to bed trustful
that they’ll be taken care of by morning. And toward dawn I often wake
up and notice, as if from a distance, that my mind is still churning out
stories without any help from me at all.”</b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b> Tyler frequently suffers from insomnia from two to four in the
morning, a malady she believes she inherited from her family. She says
that half of her family “fights” this condition; the other half gets
something done. Tyler uses those wakeful hours to write on index cards.</b></blockquote>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-76587651116482980332015-02-12T06:30:00.001-05:002015-02-12T12:23:41.196-05:00Gail Peck Reads from 'Within Two Rooms' Sunday at Park Road Books<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://www.gailpeck.org/" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://gailpeck.org/s/cc_images/cache_3032276904.jpg?t=1307534781" height="400" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 84px;" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gail Peck</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Before Charlotte poet Gail Peck could give her first reading for her new chapbook, "Within Two Rooms" (Finishing Line Press), she learned that a full-length poetry manuscript, "The Braided Light," had won the Lena Shull Book Contest, sponsored by the North Carolina Poetry Society.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Her prize is $250 and a reading in March at Catawba College in Salisbury. Former poet laureate Fred Chappell calls "The Braided Light," about Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, "a poignant envisioning of visions, a look into the heart of light." Main Street Rag will publish this book in March.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Meanwhile, back at the chapbook ranch, Peck will read from "Within Two Rooms" at 2 p.m. Sunday at Park Road Books. Charlotte poet and essayist Rebecca McClanahan calls these poems "a bittersweet litany of praise for the world the mother teaches us to notice, and to love."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>WHAT:</b> A poetry reading by Charlotte's Gail Peck</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>WHEN</b>: 2 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 15.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>WHERE</b>: Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road, Charlotte 28209</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>COST</b>: Free and open to the public </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 3.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 3.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 3.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 3.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 3.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 3.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 3.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 3.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-36964695608829080302015-02-10T06:30:00.000-05:002015-02-10T10:04:28.779-05:00Margaret Walker once sued Alex Haley for copyright infringement<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.examiner.com%2Farticle%2Fmargaret-walker-alexander-the-voice-of-a-people&ei=tFLZVPTFM4rbsATy7oHAAw&bvm=bv.85464276,d.cWc&psig=AFQjCNHvumfy-vVa4GUmFcJ8pEYCEvEL6g&ust=1423614976198667" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/a3/4f/1361168974_8888_mmmmmmmmmmm.jpg?itok=Fu_pv0GQ" height="283" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 90px;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Margaret Walker</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Carolyn Brown's <b>"Song of My Life: A Biography of Margaret Walker"</b> (University Press of Mississippi, $20), is a new look at the prize-winning poet and author of <b>"Jubilee,"</b> a semi-fictional historical novel based on the author's bi-racial grandmother. In the biography, I learned many things I had not known.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>That Walker and husband "Alex" Alexander began their married life in 1943 in <b>High Point, N.C.</b></li>
<li>That Walker began her teaching career at Livingstone College in<b> Salisbury, N.C</b>. in 1940.</li>
<li>That Walker was the first African-American woman selected to attend <b>Yaddo</b>, an artist's retreat in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Also in residence with Walker were <b>Carson McCullers, Langston Hughes</b> and <b>Jean Stafford.</b></li>
<li>That Walker sued <b>Alex Haley</b>, author of the Pulitzer-winning book, <b>"Roots,"</b> for copyright infringement for "significant parallels between her <b>"Jubilee" </b>and Haley's <b>"Roots"</b>...enough to lead her to believe that he had stolen her work." Walker did not win the case, but she considered it "time well spent" for what she learned about copyright infringement. </li>
</ul>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-72715072720029144882015-02-09T06:30:00.000-05:002015-02-09T06:30:01.373-05:00John David Smith on 'Lincoln and the U.S. Colored Troops' <div id="irc_mimg">
</div>
<div id="irc_mimg">
<div id="irc_mimg">
</div>
</div>
<br />
John David Smith, author of "Lincoln and the U.S. Colored Troops," will give a free public lecture at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday at UNC Charlotte Center City, 320 E. Ninth Street, in Uptown Charlotte.<br />
<br />
The book tells two stories: Lincoln's decision to use African Americans to keep the Union in tact and the yeoman service of the more than 180,000 black soldiers who wore the Union blue. <br />
<br />
Smith is the Charles H. Stone Distinguished Professor of History at UNCC, and he is also the author of "We Ask Only for Even-Handed Justice: Black Voices from Reconstruction, 1865-1877," and "Soldiering for Freedom; How the Union Army Recruited, Trained and Deployed the U.S. Colored Troops" (with Bob Luke.)<br />
<br />
The event is sponsored by UNCC's College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and the J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNCC.<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com397tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-84830385589676711362015-02-07T06:30:00.000-05:002015-02-07T06:30:02.369-05:00Jason Mott on D.G. Martin's 'North Carolina Book Watch' Sunday<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://kickass.filesoup.com/jason-mott-de-eerste-nl-ebook-t8761327.html" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img height="213" id="irc_mi" src="http://lj.libraryjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/2013_06_30_ALA_26.jpg" style="margin-top: 36px;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jason Mott</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jason Mott, author of the recent novel, "The Wonder of all Things," is a writer's writer. I was lucky enough to moderate a panel last fall on which he served. He was extremely articulate about the writing life and his no-nonsense approach to tackling a novel, and he gave the audience valuable tips on what to do when you're stuck: keep writing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mott will be on D.G. Martin's "North Carolina Book Watch" this Sunday at noon and again on Thursday at 5 p.m. (UNC-TV).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I'm hoping Martin will ask him what inspired his first novel, "The Returned," on which the ABC television series, "Resurrection," is based.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His latest, "The Wonder of All Things," concerns a 13-year-old girl who has amazing healing powers. But each time she uses her powers, there's a cost to her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You don't want to miss this inspiring writer from Bolton, N.C.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-78492412857418403172015-02-06T06:30:00.000-05:002015-02-06T06:30:00.835-05:00Betty Adcock's 'Widow Poems' -- 'conversations shredding in the wind'Almost four years ago, Raleigh poet Betty Adcock lost her long-time husband, Don, a jazz musician. His death has changed her life, of course, and over the ensuing months, the poems began to come. Poems, she says, that were "hard to write, hard to live through," and the book, she says, "has changed her, too. I care much less for some things and much more for other things than I used to."<br />
<br />
Now her chapbook <b>"Widow Poems"</b> (Jacar Press), $12.95) from which the following is taken.<br />
<br />
<b>The Widow's House</b><br />
<br />
<b>seems to be coming apart -- pieces</b><br />
<b>of wall, snatches of a rug, chair-rungs,</b><br />
<b>shingles, plumbing, lamps and doorknobs.</b><br />
<b>Glass shatters from rows of still-framed </b><br />
<b>faces. The mirrors are dusking over,</b><br />
<b>no longer disclosing.</b><br />
<br />
<b> Everything floats</b><br />
<b>as if gravity has left the place. It's not</b><br />
<b>violent; it is a loosening, a soundless</b><br />
<b>disengagement. Even her body has become </b><br />
<b>otherwise, flesh that can no longer</b><br />
<b>recognize itself.</b><br />
<br />
<b>Perhaps it is she who has gone to ash,</b><br />
<b>gone to ground and the dark.</b><br />
<b>She has asked so hard for him,</b><br />
<b>crying out in the night, weeping into</b><br />
<b>pots on the stove, roses in the yard.</b><br />
<br />
<b>Perhaps she is the ghost </b><br />
<b>in the house they built dissolving,</b><br />
<b>turning now as if in the grip of a slowed</b><br />
<b>tornado, air full of what could be </b><br />
<b>confetti in some kind of decelerating</b><br />
<b>celebration: music, books, conversations</b><br />
<b>shredding in the wind that memory</b><br />
<b>always becomes -- unfastened, recasting,</b><br />
<b>disheveling as the end of lovemaking.</b><br />
<b>She sits on a splintered floor</b><br />
<b>surrounded by the<i> done-for. </i></b><br />
<br />
Betty Adcock is the author of six collections of poetry from LSU Press. She has taught for many years at Meredith College in Raleigh and most recently at the low-residency Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers in Swannanoa, N.C. To order the book: Jacarpress.comAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-76515321923908921992015-02-05T06:30:00.000-05:002015-02-05T06:30:01.584-05:00Hubbard's 'And We Stay' named Printz Honor Award book by ALA<br />
<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<img alt="https://scribblesandwanderlust.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/17797364.jpg" class="decoded" height="400" src="https://scribblesandwanderlust.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/17797364.jpg" width="264" /> </div>
<br />
<div id="irc_mimg">
</div>
<div id="irc_mimg">
</div>
<div id="irc_mimg">
</div>
<br />
Some people won't answer the phone if they don't recognize the number. I'm not one of those people. It could be a free trip to Paris or to the Grand Canyon or maybe someone's offering great gobs of cash. Who knows what awaits?<br />
<br />
On the other hand, Jennifer Hubbard, a young adult novelist who once taught at Charlotte Country Day School and now lives in Salisbury, doesn't answer strange numbers.<br />
<br />
You might say what happened recently will change that.<br />
<br />
The call came on the eve of Super Bowl Sunday. Jennifer was at home, working the New York Times cross-word puzzle. <i>Ring. Ring.</i> The phone showed a Tennessee area code.<br />
<br />
She let it ring.<br />
<br />
Jennifer and her husband went out to dinner, and the calls continued. Once. Twice. She ignored each one.<br />
<br />
As she was stepping into Salsibury's Keppel Auditorium for a performance of the North Carolina Symphony:<i> ring, ring</i>. This time, a New York number. Jennifer listened to the voice mail, which chastised her for not answering the previous calls.<br />
<br />
So Jennifer returns the Tennessee call and learns that...<br />
<br />
Her 2014 young adult novel, <b>And We Stay,</b> had been named a Printz Honor Book!<br />
<br />
Now, what does this mean exactly?<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Michael L. Printz Award, given annually by the American
Library Association, honors the best book written for teens based on its
literary merit. In addition, the Printz Committee names up to four honor books,
which also represent the best writing in young adult literature.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So Jennifer's book now
keeps company with past winners of the Printz Honor, including <b><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Book </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thief</span>, </b>by Marcus Zusak, and <b><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Speak</span></b>, by Laurie Halse Anderson.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This means that <b><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And We Stay</span></b> will be in print for a long time to come. It also means
that every library in the country will want to have a copy on its shelves. It
means a lot of things, really, but most of all, Jennifer's hoping it means that her work will
be taught in high schools, and that she'll be invited to talk with
students about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh, and Sofia
Coppola, if you are reading this, Jennifer would also very much like for you to be the one
to adapt the novel into a screenplay and direct the film version.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-28613457774158279382015-02-04T06:30:00.000-05:002015-02-24T19:51:07.286-05:00Shelby Foote on aging, Joan Crawford dancing and Thomas WolfeThe Paris Review interviewed Shelby Foote at his house in Memphis, Tenn., in 1999, and Foote talked about various subjects, including his use of real ink and blotters, which were getting almost impossible to find. Foote, of course, is the author of the monumental trilogy: <b>The Civil War: A Narrative</b>, but he continued to think of himself as a novelist. In 1999, he was still working on his yet-to-be finished novel, <b>Two Gates to the City. </b><br />
When he mentions Thomas Wolfe below, he is obviously referring to their time at UNC-Chapel Hill. Foote did not graduate, but holed himself up n the library and plotted his own course of study.<br />
At the time of the interview, Foote wa 83 and, unbidden, began to talk about aging. <br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Getting old has way more virtues that it has faults, if you leave out
the pain you might suffer if you have some serious injury. But I take
great pleasure in being able to look back on things. I remember certain
little scenes that are almost meaningless, like Thomas Wolfe coming up
the library steps while I was coming down, being with William Faulkner
and talking to him about his work, all kinds of things. I remember a sky
without a jet trail. I remember Joan Crawford dancing. I remember
Roosevelt’s fireside chats and people sitting in front of the radio,
like warming their hands in front of a stove. Everyone on the face of
the earth has such remembrances if he lives long enough. I’m eighty
years old now, which is almost inconceivable to me. I don’t believe it
for an instant. </b></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
<a href="http://readinglifeobs.blogspot.com/">http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/931/the-art-of-fiction-no-158-shelby-foote</a></h3>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-23358748423071163802015-02-01T06:30:00.000-05:002015-02-24T20:07:52.540-05:00All I want is to hunker under the covers and read 'The Girl on the Train'<br />
<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<img alt="http://pubimages.randomhouse.com.au/getimage.aspx?vid=474500&usehttp=0&cat=default&class=books&size=custom&resize=1&dpi=300&quality=100&type=jpg&width=1500&height=2500&id=9780857522320" class="decoded shrinkToFit" src="http://pubimages.randomhouse.com.au/getimage.aspx?vid=474500&usehttp=0&cat=default&class=books&size=custom&resize=1&dpi=300&quality=100&type=jpg&width=1500&height=2500&id=9780857522320" height="320" width="209" /> </div>
<br />
Never mind washing the dog, if we had a dog.<br />
Never mind feeding the cat, if we had a cat.<br />
Never mind stuffing the pillows with water fowl feathers, if we had water fowl feathers.<br />
<br />
Never mind the blackberry pie I promised I'd bake.<br />
<br />
Never mind. Never mind.<br />
<br />
All I really want is to hunker under the covers today and read Paula Hawkins' smash hit, "The Woman on the Train."<br />
<br />
Even Stephen King tweeted that it kept him up all night. "The alcoholic narrator is dead perfect," he wrote.<br />
<br />
Critics are calling the bestseller by the UK author "compulsively readable," a "Hitchccokian thriller" and comparing it to "Gone Girl" and "The Silent Wife."<br />
<br />
The hardcover is in its 10th printing and DreamWorks has optioned it for a movie, according to USA Today .<br />
<br />
What's it about? Rachel, the woman on a train, is alcoholic and obsessed with a couple she sees from the window on her commute to London. They seem the perfect couple to her until the morning she sees something that draws her into a possible murder investigation.<br />
<br />
Who's Paula Hawkins? A Londoner who admits to a darker side of her personality. She worked as a journalist for 15 years before publishing three novels under a pseudonym -- "chick-lit," she calls them. And, without being told, we know -- and celebrate -- that she's now remarkably wealthy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-15538886529473881362015-01-31T06:30:00.000-05:002015-01-31T11:14:55.173-05:00Sunday at Quail Ridge in Raleigh: A tribute to Reynolds Price<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2009%2F05%2F13%2Fbooks%2F13garn.html&ei=7SfMVJPoO8u-ggS0sYSACA&bvm=bv.85076809,d.eXY&psig=AFQjCNGJNzWB0VSSJYhmXDgrtV0V3ZWGLg&ust=1422752090462525" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/05/13/books/reynolds-price-190.jpg" height="320" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 82px;" width="264" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reynolds Price</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"> If I could be anywhere this Sunday afternoon, it would be at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. The afternoon forum will be a tribute to the late <b>Reynolds Price</b>, long-time Duke professor and the author of such classic novels as <b>"A Long and Happy Life"</b> and <b>"Kate Vaiden."</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">I fell in love with Price in 1963, soon after "A <b></b>Long and Happ</span></span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">y Life" was published. I checked it out from Duke's East Campus Library, where my then-husband was a graduate student.</span></span><br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"></span></span><br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">Back home, I began reading aloud to my mother, who was helping me care for my new-born son. After that first long, glorious sentence in<b> "A Long and Happy Life,"</b> we held our sides laughing -- not because what we read was particularly funny. But because it was exhilarating to happen upon such clear, pleasurable genius in the first sentence.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">It would be another decade-plus before I actually met Price. As editor of the Observer's book page, I had started a series called "Piedmont Authors," which gave me an excuse in 1979 to drive to Durham to interview him. We met outside his classroom on West Campus, walked to our cars -- he drove a yellow Mercedes -- and I followed in my car (a white Mercedes, I admit, thanks to my brand-new husband who had been an indulgent bachelor before we married) to his little house deep in the country between Durham and Chapel Hill.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">Two things I'll never forget: How he raved over his former student <b>Anne Tyler,</b> whom he taught as a 16-year-old Duke freshman and his surprise that every student after her was not as talented.</span></span><br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"></span></span><br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">The other was his telling me that he ran four miles a day.</span></span><br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">That fact would stick in my mind years later, when I returned to interview Price, this time in his wheelchair because of paralysis from radiation to reduce a spinal tumor -- a condition he bore with regal patience and an enviable grace.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><b>WHAT:</b> A tribute to Reynolds Price with Nancy Olson; Price's niece Memsy Price, Edmond Miller, Alex Harris (who will show photos), Frank Hielema and Jim Clark. Moderator: Clay Stainaker</span></span><br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><br /></span></span>
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><b>WHERE</b>: Quail Ridge Books, 3522 Wade Ave., Raleigh, N.C., 27607</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><b>WHEN</b>: Sunday, Feb. 1 at 3 p.m.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1951590742" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><b>COST:</b> Free and open to the public </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-84192312022671690632015-01-29T06:30:00.000-05:002015-01-29T19:51:24.528-05:00What Miranda July and Charlotte's Kathryn Schwille have in common<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://www.bookpromotion.com/we-think-alone-a-new-project-from-miranda-july/" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://www.bookpromotion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mj_web_shot_by_RJ_Shaughnessy.jpg" height="393" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="260" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Miranda July</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Question: What does award-winning Charlotte fiction writer <b>Kathryn Schwille</b> have in common with filmmaker and actor <b>Miranda July</b>, whose debut novel, <b>"The First Bad Man,"</b> is being hailed as "so totally weird and wonderful" that it's like "watching an insane person dance"?<br />
<br />
<b>Schwille and July have been friends since high school?</b><br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
<b>They were roommates at the Bread Loaf writers' colony?</b><br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
<b>They both write about kinky sex?</b><br />
<br />
Well, sort of.<br />
<br />
The truth is, <b>Miranda July</b> graces the cover of a recent edition of Printer's Row Journal, in which <b>Schwille's </b>short story, <b>"White Birch,"</b> appears. Printer's row is an experimental insert of The Chicago Tribune which goes only to premiere subscribers and which includes book reviews, long short stories and essays. Printer's Row, named for the area of Chicago where printers once had their shops, replaces the Tribune's former book pages.<br />
In December, Schwille learned she was a finalist for this year's<b> Pushcart Prizes</b>, awarded to "important works published by small presses last year." The award was for her short-short story, <b>"FM</b> <b>104,"</b> which originally appeared in the literary journal<b> Memorius</b>. Other fiction has appeared in <b>West Branch, River Styx, Sycamore Review </b>and <b>Crazyhors</b>e. She was also a 2013 recipient of an artist's fellowship from the North Carolina Arts Council.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-78825999061182556272015-01-28T06:30:00.000-05:002015-01-30T08:08:13.915-05:00Leave it to Charlotte's Lee Ann Brown: A poem about poke salletLee Ann Brown grew up in Charlotte. She is the founder of the award-winning, independent poetry press Tender Buttons and the author of several collections of poetry, including her most recent, "In the Laurels, Caught" (Fence Books, $15.95). She divides her time between New York City, where she teaches at St. John's University, and Marshall, N.C.<br />
<br />
The following is from "In the Laurels, Caught."<br />
<br />
POKE SALLET<br />
<br />
is cooked not raw<br />
<br />
<i>stay ahead</i><br />
<i> of the red</i><br />
<br />
Eat in spring<br />
cook when 6 inches or less<br />
<br />
lymph cleanser<br />
<br />
2 boils<br />
<br />
Do Not drink the potlikker<br />
<br />
Eat the berry<br />
<br />
1 on the 1st day<br />
2 on the 2nd day<br />
3 on the 3rd day<br />
<br />
How far do you<br />
spit out the poisonous seeds?<br />
<br />
become a dynamic accumulator<br />
bringing up minerals from below<br />
<br />
Children in a school near here used poke ink<br />
It was that with which they wrote<br />
<br />
any daughter paints her arms<br />
<br />
the way to play the plants<br />
<br />
on paper the unfixed juice goes from bright magen-<br />
ta to a dried blood color<br />
<br />
the man who built our house<br />
first dreamed of a pokeberry sky<br />
<br />
but after a hot day of crushing berries<br />
and smearing the boards, gave into Benjamin Moore<br />
<br />
it's "hard to fix"<br />
<br />
that color more bright than cochinealAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-74141380074928288362015-01-27T06:30:00.000-05:002015-01-27T07:42:07.038-05:00Junot Diaz's ' Wondrous Life' tops list of 20 best novels in 21st centuryOne of my favorite writers, the Dominican-born Junot Diaz, topped the list of more than 150 novels of the 21st century named in a poll of leading critics by <b><a href="http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150119-the-21st-centurys-12-best-novels/" rel="nofollow" sl-processed="1" target="_blank">BBC Culture</a></b>, the entertainment arm of the BBC's international website, which included choices from experts at the New York Times and Time magazine.<br />
Diaz won for his Pulitzer-winning novel, <b>The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao</b> (2007).<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The winners:</b>
<br />
<br />
1. Junot Díaz, <b>The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao</b> (2007)<br />
2. Edward P Jones, <b>The Known World</b> (2003) <br />
3. Hilary Mantel, <b>Wolf Hall </b>(2009)<br />
4.<b> </b>Marilynne Robinson<b>, Gilead</b> (2004)<br />
5. Jonathan Franzen,<b> The Corrections</b> (2001)<br />
6. Michael Chabon, <b>The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay</b> (2000)<br />
7. Jennifer Egan, <b>A Visit from the Goon Squad</b><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8896664/Books-of-the-Year-2011-Fiction.html" target="_blank"> </a></b>(2010)<br />
8. Ben Fountain, <b>Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk</b> (2012)<br />
9. Ian McEwan, <b>Atonemen</b>t (2001)<br />
10. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, <b>Half of a Yellow Sun</b> (2006)<br />
11. Zadie Smith<b>, White Teeth</b> (2000)<br />
12. Jeffrey Eugenides,<b> Middlesex</b> (2002) <br />
13. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, <b>Americanah</b> (2013)<br />
14. WG Sebald, <b>Austerlitz</b> (2001)<br />
15. Elena Ferrante, <b>My Brilliant Friend</b> (2012)<br />
16. Alan Hollinghurst, <b>The Line of Beauty</b> (2008)<br />
17. Cormac McCarthy, <b>The Road</b> (2010)<br />
18. Zadie Smith, <b>NW</b> (2012)<br />
19. Roberto Bolaño, <b>2666 </b>(2009)<br />
20. Shirley Hazzard, <b>The Great Fire</b> (2004)
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-52498119603257642282015-01-25T06:30:00.000-05:002015-01-25T08:37:35.367-05:00I'm in love with a man I never met: Amorak Huey and his liner notes <div class="post-meta">
<h1>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">True confession: I am in love with a man I never met. His name is Amorak Huey and I'm not even sure how to pronounce it, though I know the emphasis is not on the first syllable. I found his poetry on line, and I fell hard. He grew up in Alabama, and he's a former newspaper man. He teaches now at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. I think he must write poetry in his sleep because he seems to be in every literary journal I pick up.</span></h1>
<h1>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
I found this essay by him as I was twittering around. I think he's a genius. He has a forthcoming book of poetry called <u>Ha Ha Ha Thump</u> from Sundress Publications. "Liner Notes" previously appeared in the Winter 2015 issue of Brevity.</span></h1>
<h1>
</h1>
<h1>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
Liner Notes for the Debut Album From the Band We Never Formed</span></h1>
<br />
by <span class="post-author">AMORAK HUEY</span><i> • </i><span class="post-date">January 7, 2015</span><a class="post-comms" href="http://brevitymag.com/current-issue/liner-notes/#comments"> </a></div>
<i><a href="http://brevitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/huey_spin_500.jpg"><img alt="huey_spin_500" class="alignright wp-image-3506 size-full" src="http://brevitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/huey_spin_500.jpg" height="500" width="500" /></a> </i><br />
<i>For M, J, C, and S.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Track 1</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>There was that time we almost died, which is to say every day because
that’s how life works, but in particular this is about the night we
took the back way and then the dark shortcut around the back way, and
the road went downhill and farther downhill and turned and turned and
kept turning long past the point where turning made sense. How grateful
we were to be so scared.</b></blockquote>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Track 2</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>The boys we were. The boys we would become. The boys who never
existed. Someone is always going to be tallest, fastest, strongest, most
handsome. Sometimes one person gets all the gifts. The day will be
shaped by how the rest of us deal with such a discrepancy. Loyalty means
holding hands even if you’re homophobic.</b></blockquote>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Track 3</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>There was that girl we each gave the keys to our mouth. Waited for
her to choose. Back then we didn’t know the difference between want and
other kinds of want.</b></blockquote>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Track 4</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Our bodies crack open early. Our skin splits and lets in the
lightning. One of us laid down a motorcycle to avoid killing a dog. Left
a meaningful amount of flesh and blood on the asphalt, a beautiful and
gory smear. A donation. The price of a forever scar.</b></blockquote>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Track 5</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>There was naturally the problem of music itself. Of choosing
instruments and keeping time, and the way trees in the South take
tentative root in the crumbling red clay. When you grow up in Alabama,
you understand you are never alone. You understand the earth leaves a
stain.</b></blockquote>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Track 6</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>There was that girl again. Every time she used one of our names was a
kind of prayer, a kind of answer. I don’t mean to make desire sound
more sacred than it is.</b></blockquote>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Track 7</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>All writing is done from memory. How much is lost between a thought
and the recording of that thought? Between an experience and any
pretense at understanding that experience. Between her lips and the
lyrics that mention them. We were the kind of boys who drowned such
questions in sweet tea and staying up all night.</b></blockquote>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Track 8</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>When a storm came from the south, it brought the gulf, the brack and
bitter of saltwater, the scent of mystery. When it came from the west,
it brought more wind than we could handle, all uproot and damage.</b></blockquote>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Track 9</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>There was a map of the city where we lived, its efficient New Deal
homes and straight roads, all those mowed lawns and the churches that
contained us. The highway a mile north. The rivers that carried us away.
I thought I took the map when we parted, but I cannot find it.</b></blockquote>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Track 10</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Imagine the disagreements. Some of us speak to speak, some to be
heard. All of us know music is a substitute for sex but no one says so
aloud. Is it still performance if there is no song and no audience? Is
it possible to be keenly aware of the possibility of suffering if none
of us has truly suffered?</b></blockquote>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Track 11</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>In any group of five or more, one of you is certain to believe wholly
in the mind while another is all gut. The rest, rather than choosing
sides, arrange themselves in reasonably orderly fashion along this
spectrum. The most obvious error is thinking our patterns of behavior
will evolve past this origin.</b></blockquote>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Track 12</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Our problem was never a lack of self-awareness. It was awareness only
of self. And each other. We were aware of each other. If you don’t
realize how close to the edge we all are, all the time, every moment,
close your eyes and see how long you can hold your breath.</b></blockquote>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-47889926553176535722015-01-23T06:30:00.000-05:002015-01-23T06:30:01.707-05:00Sunday celebration for Carolyn Noell's 'The Medicine Man's Daughter'The Charlotte Writers Club will celebrate the publication of Carolyn Noell's memoir, "The Medicine Man's Daughter," with a reading at the Warehouse Performing Arts Center in Cornelius on Sunday.<br />
This is a coming-of-age story of Dayou Tucker, a Liberian refugee who came to Charlotte to escape civil war.<br />
<br />
Jan Blodgett, archivist for the Davidson College Library, says this about the memoir:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>"This is a poignant and captivating story that reveals not just one woman's courage, but that of a whole community of friends and strangers whose lives are changed forever by knowing one another."</b></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
Noell is a retired teacher and counselor with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system. She and her husband Tom are involved with the Stephen's Ministries at Davidson College Presbyterian Church. Noell has also written a book of poetry, "Weathered Pine."<br />
<br />
<b>When: Sunday, Jan. 25, 2-4 p.m.</b><br />
<b>Where: The Warehouse Performing Arts Center, 9216-A Westmoreland Road, Cornelius.</b><br />
<b>Cost: Free and open to the public. </b><br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;" type="cite">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word;">
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.5333347320557px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><em> </em></span></span></span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-72674321202954965012015-01-22T06:30:00.000-05:002015-01-22T06:30:00.637-05:00Enter the 2015 Doris Betts Fiction Prize contest and win $250 <div id="irc_mimg">
</div>
<div id="irc_mimg">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://www.nclhof.org/inductees/2004-2/doris-betts/" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://museum.unc.edu/static/artifacts/betts_doris.jpg" height="300" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 47px;" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doris Betts</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
I would consider it a supreme honor to win any contest with Doris Betts's name attached. Betts, a Statesville native, wrote novels and short stories that carved channels in the heart. She taught for years in the creative writing department at UNC Chapel Hill, and she inspired hundreds of students to become writers. If they didn't go on to write, they enjoyed a deeper appreciation for literature because of Betts, who died in 2012.<br />
<br />
I urge you to find a copy of <b>"The Ugliest Pilgrim," her</b> stunningly wrenching 1973 short story about a young woman with a disfigured face who rides the bus from Spruce Pine to Tulsa in hopes a preacher will heal her. You'll find it in the collection, <b>"Beasts of the Southern Wild,"</b> a 1974 finalist for the National Book Award.<br />
<br />
The 2015 Doris Betts Fiction Prize is now open for submissions. First place winner will receive $250. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b></b><span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b>GUIDELINES FOR THE 2015 DORIS BETTS FIiCTION PRIZE. Deadline: February 15:</b></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The
competition is open to any writer who is a legal resident of North
Carolina or a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. <i>North Carolina Literary Review</i> subscribers with North Carolina connections (lives or has lived in NC) are also eligible.</span></span></blockquote>
</li>
<li><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The
competition is for previously unpublished short stories up to 6,000
words. One entry per writer. No novel excerpts. Stories do NOT have to
relate to <i>NCLR’s</i> annual special feature topic.</span></span></blockquote>
</li>
<li><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Submit previously unpublished stories online at <a href="http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=11386788&msgid=1316643&act=97CE&c=240123&destination=https%3A%2F%2Fnclr.submittable.com%2Fsubmit" target="_blank">https://nclr.submittable.com/submit</a>. Submittable will collect your entry fee via credit card ($10 NCWN members or <i>NCLR </i>subscribers / $20 for non-members/non-subscribers).</span></span></blockquote>
</li>
<li><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">To pay submission fees by check or money order, make <span style="text-decoration: underline;">payable to the North Carolina Writers Network</span> and mail to: Ed Southern, PO Box 21591, Winston-Salem, NC 27120- 1591</span></span></blockquote>
</li>
<li><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Documents
must be Microsoft Word or .rtf files. Author's name should not appear
on manuscripts. Instead, include a separate cover sheet with name,
address, phone number, e-mail address, word count, and manuscript title.
(If submitting online, do not include a cover sheet with your document;
Submittable will collect and record your name and contact information.)
If you have any problems submitting electronically, email <i>NCLR's</i> <a href="mailto:NCLRSubmissions@ecu.edu">Submission Manager</a>.</span></span></blockquote>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The
winner and finalists will be announced in April. The winning story and
select finalists will be published in the next year’s issue of the <i>North Carolina Literary Review</i>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Direct questions to Margaret Bauer, Editor of the <i>North Carolina Literary Review</i>, at <a href="mailto:BauerM@ecu.edu">BauerM@ecu.edu</a>.</span></span><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-71805053319010562062015-01-21T06:30:00.000-05:002015-01-21T06:30:01.151-05:00Dementia sets in as 82-year-old Etta walks 2,000 miles to the ocean<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="https://artelesnetwork.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/hooperweb.jpg" class="decoded" src="https://artelesnetwork.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/hooperweb.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emma Hooper</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
</div>
<br />
One of the most charming debut novels of 2015 will surely be Emma Hooper's <b>"Etta and Otto and Russell and James," </b>out this week from Simon & Schuster. You've probably heard the story line by now.<br />
<br />
Eighty-two-year-old Etta has never seen the ocean. So early one morning
she takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots, and begins
walking the 3,232 kilometers (about 2,000 miles) from her farm in rural Canada eastward to Halifax in Nova Scotia. She leaves husband Otto a note on the kitchen table: <i>I
will try to remember to come back. </i>Otto understands.
But with Etta gone, the memories come crowding in, and he struggles to
keep them at bay.<br />
<br />
Russell is the couple's friend and a one-time rival for Etta's love. In fact, he's spent his whole life loving Etta from afar, and he insists on finding her,
wherever she’s gone.<br />
<br />
As Etta walks farther toward
the ocean, accompanied by a coyote named James, the lines among memory,
illusion, and reality blur as dementia sets in. Rocking back and forth with the pull of the
waves, Etta
and Otto and Russell and James move from the present of a quiet Canadian farm to a dusty burnt past of hunger, war,
passion, and hope; from trying to remember to trying to forget.<br />
<br />
In interviews, Hooper, a musician in her mid-30s who lives in England, says the characters Etta and Otto are loosely based on the maternal grandparents she visited as a child on their small farm in Sasketchewan. Her grandmother, like Etta, taught in a tiny school, and her grandfather did come from a farm family of 15 children.<br />
<br />
With starred reviews in both Kirkus and Library Journal and named as People Magazine's Book of the Week, critics are lauding this novel about leaving and being left, about the need to remember and the need to forget and about following your dreams, no matter your age. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
<br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<b>Emma Hooper:</b> Well, the characters of Etta and Otto
are loosely based on my maternal grandparents. My grandma did actually
teach in a one-room schoolhouse in Saskatchewan, and my grandpa did grow
up in a farm family of 15 kids (and his hair did all go white when he
was overseas for the war). So, I suppose, a mixture of that and letting
my slightly absurdist imagination take over from time to time. I like to
play little “what if” games with myself. “What if fish skulls spoke?
What language would it be in? What would they say? Why?” Or, “What if,
instead of taking the fastest, easiest way to get somewhere, you took
the slowest? Why?” I put that kind of thinking together with the
characters who help direct it, and, ta-da, a sort of story appears.<br />
- See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.QkgI5BMg.dpuf</div>
<br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<b>What inspired <i>Etta and Otto and Russell and James</i>?</b><br />
<b>Emma Hooper:</b> Well, the characters of Etta and Otto
are loosely based on my maternal grandparents. My grandma did actually
teach in a one-room schoolhouse in Saskatchewan, and my grandpa did grow
up in a farm family of 15 kids (and his hair did all go white when he
was overseas for the war). So, I suppose, a mixture of that and letting
my slightly absurdist imagination take over from time to time. I like to
play little “what if” games with myself. “What if fish skulls spoke?
What language would it be in? What would they say? Why?” Or, “What if,
instead of taking the fastest, easiest way to get somewhere, you took
the slowest? Why?” I put that kind of thinking together with the
characters who help direct it, and, ta-da, a sort of story appears.<br />
- See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.QkgI5BMg.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<b>What inspired <i>Etta and Otto and Russell and James</i>?</b><br />
<b>Emma Hooper:</b> Well, the characters of Etta and Otto
are loosely based on my maternal grandparents. My grandma did actually
teach in a one-room schoolhouse in Saskatchewan, and my grandpa did grow
up in a farm family of 15 kids (and his hair did all go white when he
was overseas for the war). So, I suppose, a mixture of that and letting
my slightly absurdist imagination take over from time to time. I like to
play little “what if” games with myself. “What if fish skulls spoke?
What language would it be in? What would they say? Why?” Or, “What if,
instead of taking the fastest, easiest way to get somewhere, you took
the slowest? Why?” I put that kind of thinking together with the
characters who help direct it, and, ta-da, a sort of story appears.<br />
- See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.QkgI5BMg.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<b>What inspired <i>Etta and Otto and Russell and James</i>?</b><br />
<b>Emma Hooper:</b> Well, the characters of Etta and Otto
are loosely based on my maternal grandparents. My grandma did actually
teach in a one-room schoolhouse in Saskatchewan, and my grandpa did grow
up in a farm family of 15 kids (and his hair did all go white when he
was overseas for the war). So, I suppose, a mixture of that and letting
my slightly absurdist imagination take over from time to time. I like to
play little “what if” games with myself. “What if fish skulls spoke?
What language would it be in? What would they say? Why?” Or, “What if,
instead of taking the fastest, easiest way to get somewhere, you took
the slowest? Why?” I put that kind of thinking together with the
characters who help direct it, and, ta-da, a sort of story appears.<br />
- See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.QkgI5BMg.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<b>What inspired <i>Etta and Otto and Russell and James</i>?</b><br />
<b>Emma Hooper:</b> Well, the characters of Etta and Otto
are loosely based on my maternal grandparents. My grandma did actually
teach in a one-room schoolhouse in Saskatchewan, and my grandpa did grow
up in a farm family of 15 kids (and his hair did all go white when he
was overseas for the war). So, I suppose, a mixture of that and letting
my slightly absurdist imagination take over from time to time. I like to
play little “what if” games with myself. “What if fish skulls spoke?
What language would it be in? What would they say? Why?” Or, “What if,
instead of taking the fastest, easiest way to get somewhere, you took
the slowest? Why?” I put that kind of thinking together with the
characters who help direct it, and, ta-da, a sort of story appears.<br />
- See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.QkgI5BMg.dpuf<br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<b>What inspired <i>Etta and Otto and Russell and James</i>?</b><br />
<b>Emma Hooper:</b> Well, the characters of Etta and Otto
are loosely based on my maternal grandparents. My grandma did actually
teach in a one-room schoolhouse in Saskatchewan, and my grandpa did grow
up in a farm family of 15 kids (and his hair did all go white when he
was overseas for the war). So, I suppose, a mixture of that and letting
my slightly absurdist imagination take over from time to time. I like to
play little “what if” games with myself. “What if fish skulls spoke?
What language would it be in? What would they say? Why?” Or, “What if,
instead of taking the fastest, easiest way to get somewhere, you took
the slowest? Why?” I put that kind of thinking together with the
characters who help direct it, and, ta-da, a sort of story appears.<br />
- See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.QkgI5BMg.dpuf</div>
</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<b>What inspired <i>Etta and Otto and Russell and James</i>?</b><br />
<b>Emma Hooper:</b> Well, the characters of Etta and Otto
are loosely based on my maternal grandparents. My grandma did actually
teach in a one-room schoolhouse in Saskatchewan, and my grandpa did grow
up in a farm family of 15 kids (and his hair did all go white when he
was overseas for the war). So, I suppose, a mixture of that and letting
my slightly absurdist imagination take over from time to time. I like to
play little “what if” games with myself. “What if fish skulls spoke?
What language would it be in? What would they say? Why?” Or, “What if,
instead of taking the fastest, easiest way to get somewhere, you took
the slowest? Why?” I put that kind of thinking together with the
characters who help direct it, and, ta-da, a sort of story appears.<br />
- See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.QkgI5BMg.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<b>What inspired <i>Etta and Otto and Russell and James</i>?</b><br />
<b>Emma Hooper:</b> Well, the characters of Etta and Otto
are loosely based on my maternal grandparents. My grandma did actually
teach in a one-room schoolhouse in Saskatchewan, and my grandpa did grow
up in a farm family of 15 kids (and his hair did all go white when he
was overseas for the war). So, I suppose, a mixture of that and letting
my slightly absurdist imagination take over from time to time. I like to
play little “what if” games with myself. “What if fish skulls spoke?
What language would it be in? What would they say? Why?” Or, “What if,
instead of taking the fastest, easiest way to get somewhere, you took
the slowest? Why?” I put that kind of thinking together with the
characters who help direct it, and, ta-da, a sort of story appears.<br />
- See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.QkgI5BMg.dpuf<br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<b>What inspired <i>Etta and Otto and Russell and James</i>?</b><br />
<b>Emma Hooper:</b> Well, the characters of Etta and Otto
are loosely based on my maternal grandparents. My grandma did actually
teach in a one-room schoolhouse in Saskatchewan, and my grandpa did grow
up in a farm family of 15 kids (and his hair did all go white when he
was overseas for the war). So, I suppose, a mixture of that and letting
my slightly absurdist imagination take over from time to time. I like to
play little “what if” games with myself. “What if fish skulls spoke?
What language would it be in? What would they say? Why?” Or, “What if,
instead of taking the fastest, easiest way to get somewhere, you took
the slowest? Why?” I put that kind of thinking together with the
characters who help direct it, and, ta-da, a sort of story appears.<br />
- See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.QkgI5BMg.dpuf</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-57644353515497934572015-01-20T06:30:00.001-05:002015-01-20T21:25:17.522-05:00'Stella by Starlight' set in 1932 in segregated town of Bumblebee, N.C.<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<img alt="http://blog.chron.com/bookish/files/2015/01/stella-by-starlight.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://blog.chron.com/bookish/files/2015/01/stella-by-starlight.jpg" height="320" width="213" /> </div>
<br />
<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:auto;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.25in;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
text-align:justify;
text-indent:.5in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">E</span></div>
</div>
At first glance, "Stella by Starlight" is a whimsical-looking middle-grade novel with silhouettes of two black children near a frozen pond under starlight.<br />
<br />
Wait! That's not a cozy bonfire across that pond where the children can roast marshmallows. There's a cross in the middle of that blaze.<br />
<br />
Author Sharon M. Draper lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and sets the book in the fictional town of Bumblebee, N.C., modeled on the town where Draper's dad grew up.<br />
<br />
It's "a place in the segregated South," where Stella, a fifth-grader, can go into some stores and not others. Where some folks are pleasant and others are not.<br />
"To Stella, it sort of evens out, and heck, the Klan hasn't bothered them for years." <br />
<br />
Draper is a New York Times bestselling author ("Out of My Mind") and she says on her web page that she used to visit her grandmother in this little town, "tucked in the rocky bottom of the Blue Ridge Mountains," near Spindale.<br />
<br />
"Roosters crowed at dawn," Draper writes. "Our breakfast milk came warm from the cow, our eggs fresh from the chicken’s nests. I remember hot apple pie, cold watermelon slices, and sugar sweet tea. And the stories. After the sun faded into darkness, and fireflies blinked in the yard, everyone would gather on Grandma Estelle’s porch and listen to the old folks tell tales—funny memories, harsh realities, family treasures, and sometimes big fat whoppers."<br />
<br />
Underline the words "harsh realities."<br />
<br />
Bumblebee in 1932 is not only segregated, but the Klan still terrorizes black families.<br />
<br />
Listen:<br />
<br />
"Every Negro family in Bumblebee knew the unwritten rules -- they had to take care of their own problems and take care of one another. Help from the white community was neither expected nor considered. It was as it always had been."<br />
<br />
The night the Klan shows up, Stella recognizes the white physician's horse as the one leading the pack.<br />
<br />
Draper's grandmother, Estelle Twitty Mills Davis, died in 1983 and left Draper her only journal and became for her granddaughter both muse and spirit guide. "She is my Stella by Starlight," Draper says.<br />
<br />
Kirkus Review says; "A tale of Jim Crow South that's not sugar coated but effective, with a trustworthy narrator who opens her heart and reader's eyes."<br />
<br />
Draper has received the Coretta Scott King Award for both "Copper Sun" and "Forged by Fire," and "Out of My Mind" has been a New York Times bestseller for more than a year.<br />
<br />
<b>SHARON DRAPER TO READ AT QUAIL RIDGE BOOKS</b><br />
<br />
<b>When: Wed., Jan. 21</b><br />
<b>Time: 7 p.m.</b><br />
<b>Where: Quail Ridge Books, 3522 Wade Avenue, Raleigh, N.C., 27607</b><br />
<b>Cost: Free and open to the public</b><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-8485055118110307752015-01-19T06:30:00.000-05:002015-01-19T06:30:00.374-05:00UNC at Pittsboro? Historians reveal what might've been and more<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<img alt="http://images.booksense.com/images/624/496/9780786496624.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://images.booksense.com/images/624/496/9780786496624.jpg" /> </div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Imagine that our great University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, would, but for the tight-fistedness of an 18th century landowner, have been our great University of North Carolina at Pittsboro. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
On Pokeberry Creek, no less. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
It's true, and the details of this near-miss of the 700-acre Chatham County Jones Grove plantation as a site for the University in 1792 -- as well as the secrets literally dug from unmarked slave graves -- are revealed in a tantalizing new book,<b> "Miss Mary's Money: Fortune and Misfortune in a North Carolina Plantation Family, 1760-1924" </b>(McFarland Publishers, Jefferson, N.C., $29.95 softcover.) by <b>H.G. Jones with David Southern.</b><br />
<br />
Trust Jones, who's taught history in several universities, served as state archivist and director of the North Carolina Department of Archives and History and as curator of the North Carolina Collection at UNC, to nail the most elusive facts and make history come jigging to life.<br />
<br />
<br />
David Southern is a managing editor at Duke University Press of "The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle" and a genius of a sleuth. <br />
<br />
Let's put aside the complicated Smith genealogy that begins with a 1760 land grant to one Richard Parker, and just say that Mary Ruffin Smith became the sole heir of several sizable parcels, including Jones Grove, which over the years expanded to more than 1,000 acres, and which, at her death in 1885, she willed to the University. Proceeds from the sale of the property were parlayed into scholarships.<br />
<br />
Mary Smith never married. But her unsavory bachelor brothers, Francis Smith and Sidney Smith, one a quasi-doctor and one a binge-drinking lawyer, sired four daughters with a slave woman named Harriet, often as the result of rape.<br />
<br />
And that's only the beginning of this fascinating story, which anyone interested in dysfunctional families, horrific treatment of slave women by their white owners, great wealth, family devotion and heart-swelling generosity, will definitely want to read. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-84020890920507610082015-01-18T06:30:00.000-05:002015-01-19T08:19:46.346-05:00Anyone out there who has not finished Donna Tartt's 'The Goldfinch'?Checking out at the Fresh Market recently, my friend Mark asked if I'd read<b> Donna Tartt's</b> bestselling novel,<b> "The Goldfinch.</b>" I admitted I had not, and he told me he was enjoying it but having trouble finishing it. Today, reading <b>The Notebook </b>in <b>The Guardian</b>, I find Mark is not alone: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>The question most people ask when they find out you read books for a
job is, do you finish them? It’s a good question, to which the short
answer is yes, I do, because someone’s paying me to finish them. It
would just be rude to take the money and review a book based on its
first three chapters, or judge it for a prize and not make it past the
opening pages. And some books – not many, but some – don’t begin well
but end spectacularly.
</b></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>But when I am reading for myself, I don’t have any such compunction.
Reading a book shouldn’t be a chore, the carrots that must be eaten
before pudding is allowed. Reading is – or should be – a pleasure in its
own right. There is no novel so perfect that you have to finish it, or
you’ve somehow failed as a reader. And I guarantee that no author is
sitting at their desk wondering how to make their book more endurable.
Not even <a class=" u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/donna-tartt">Donna Tartt</a>.</b></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<b>
</b>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Kobo – the e-bookseller – has released two sets of figures: for books
bought this year, and for books finished. The Goldfinch was its 37th
best-selling book, but <a class=" u-underline" data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/10/kobo-survey-books-readers-finish-donna-tartt" title="">only 44% of those who started it managed to complete it</a>.
Perhaps that’s no surprise: Tartt’s magnum opus is almost 800 pages
long and plenty of us find very long books off-putting. But presumably
most of those who bought The Goldfinch knew it was a long read and
fancied it anyway. But partway through, they just lost momentum because
the story didn’t engage them sufficiently.</b></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<b>
</b>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Most-unfinished book of the year isn’t a title anyone would hope to
win. But her core fans probably read the book to the end, as did a whole
raft of new readers, which propelled her up the bestseller charts. And
those readers who didn’t finish it still paid for it, so Donna Tartt can
mop up those tears with crisp tenners, which will surely ease the pain.</b></blockquote>
<b>
</b></blockquote>
<h2>
<b><br /></b></h2>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7650738503631899640.post-74277215952263140282015-01-14T06:30:00.000-05:002015-01-14T06:30:00.093-05:00'Invisible Racism': Claudia Rankine to read at Queens University Jan. 16<div id="irc_mimg">
When Alexandra Schwartz interviewed poet <b>Claudia Rankine</b> last summer for the New Yorker, she asked her how her award-winning poetry collection, <b>"Citizen: An American Lyric,"</b> came about.</div>
<br />
Here's what Rankine answered:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>I started working on “Citizen” as a way of talking about invisible racism—moments that you experience and that happen really fast. They go by at lightning speed, and you begin to distrust that they even happened, and yet you know that you feel bad somehow. My husband is a great fan, or used to be a great fan, of Tiger Woods, and so I started by watching a lot of golf tournaments. I am a great fan of the Williams sisters, and I would watch tennis. You began to see a lot of little moments, and they would happen, and they would happen, and they would happen, at the U.S. Open and at various other Grand Slams, and I thought, “I’m going to start documenting these.”</b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>And as I began documenting them in Serena Williams’s playing life, I started doing it in my own life. Then I started interviewing people and asking them for stories in their lives. I specifically said, to people I met and to friends, “Tell me a moment when you suddenly found yourself feeling invisible or internally unsettled by something that came down to a moment that you then read as racism, but I want it to happen between you and a friend.” I didn’t really care too much about what people were doing in Ferguson, at this level. I meant in their day-to-day working lives. And then, as people began to tell me stories, I began to see it in my own life, everywhere, happening, and I just started writing them down.</b></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, poet Claudia Rankine earned a BA at Williams College and an MFA at Columbia University. She is a former Queens University instructor in its MFA program.<br />
<br />
Rankine has published several collections of poetry, including <b>Citizen: An American Lyric </b>(2014), a finalist for the National Book Award; <b>Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric </b>(2004); and <b>Nothing in Nature is Private</b>
(1994), which won the Cleveland State Poetry Prize.<br />
<br />
<b style="text-align: justify;"><u>Claudia Rankine Reads:</u></b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<b><u>When:</u></b> 8:30-9:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 16<br />
<b><u>Where:</u></b> Ketner Auditorium, Queens University<br />
<b><u>Cost</u></b>: Free and open to the public.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br /></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01573532624721274657noreply@blogger.com0