Dot Jackson's Debut Novel 'Refuge' released at last from captivity

Dot Jackson

Dot Jackson's debut novel, "Refuge," won the now-defunct Novello Festival Press Prize in 2005, sponsored by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library. It's a lush, passionate novel, based on a family scandal, set in the variegated green of the Blue Ridge Mountains. When Jackson, who recently moved from Six Mile, S.C., to Newland, N.C., read at Park Road Books in 2008, after the release of the paperback edition by John Blair, she packed the house.
Then, suddenly, the only hard copies to be found were on Amazon or in used bookstores. Gone. Down the rabbit hole. Jackson gave readings at book clubs and conferences around the Carolinas, and fans harangued her for a copy. The former Novello staff members, now scattered, said they hadn't a clue what had happened to the remaining stock.
At last, success. The books have been found -- in the nether regions of the Main Library -- and the rights released back to the author. Jackson, a former Observer reporter and columnist, dispatched her daughter to Charlotte with a rental truck to buy the lot of them.
Want an autographed copy? Make checks payable to Dot Jackson and mail them to Jackson at P.O. Box 96, Montezuma, N.C. 28653. Hardbacks $24.95; paperbacks $16. Shipping: $2.50. If you want your book signed personally, email her at dotjackson6mile@aol.com.

"Topograph" reading tonight at Queens University of Charlotte

Several authors whose works are included in "Topograph: New Writing from the Carolinas and the Landscape Beyond" will give a free reading tonight, Feb. 24, at Queens University's Sykes Auditorium.
"Topograph," edited by Jeff Jackson and published by Novello Festival Press, includes one-minute stories, poetry, memoir and short stories.
The evening begins with a Q&A with Jackson at 6:30 p.m. Anthology authors, including novelist and poet Alan Michael Parker, memoirist Shireen Campbell, poet Janice Fuller and cult author Scott McClanahan, will read at 7:30 p.m.