Charlotte author's 'Eliza' poems hit the stage

Charlotte poet Dede Wilson's "Eliza: The New Orleans Years," is about to take the stage as a one-woman show.

"Eliza" opens at 2:30 p.m. May 27 and will run Sundays through June 17 at Carolinas Actors Studio Theatre, 2424 N. Davidson St. Tickets are $15.

The performance, starring Pamela Freedy, is adapted from Wilson's 2010 book of poetry, which is based on actual events.

Eliza was Wilson's great- great-grandmother, and her life with husband Caleb has long been a subject of fascination in Wilson's family. The story was that Caleb had married Eliza after killing her first husband in a duel.

Wilson used her late mother's research and her own to write Eliza's story for family members. After she finished, she did more research for this fictional version.

"Eliza" is the tale of a young London woman who sails in 1837 with her mother and siblings to New Orleans. In route, she marries the ship's captain. But once on land, she meets Caleb.

Rich and precise, Wilson's blank-verse poems speed the story along. By the end of the book, it's 1862. New Orleans has fallen to Union troops, and Eliza's marriage is disintegrating.

Read more here: http://readinglifeobs.blogspot.com/2010/12/charlottes-dede-wilson-pens-page.html#storylink=cpy

Authors in Charlotte this week

Jon Odell will read from his novel, "The Healing," 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, at Red and 28th, 2424 N. Davidson St. Set in antebellum Mississippi, "The Healing" is a rite-of-passage novel that's being compared favorably to "The Help."

Alethea Kontis will read from her latest teen book, "Enchanted," 7 p.m. Thursday, May 24, at Barnes & Noble in Pineville, 11055 Carolina Place Blvd. Kontis and Sherrilyn Kenyon are co-authors of "The Dark-Hunter Companion."

Leonard Pitts, Jr. coming to Charlotte

Novelist and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr. will give a reading and sign copies of his new novel, "Freeman," 2 p.m. Sunday, June 3, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

"Freeman," the follow-up to Pitt's "Before I Forget," is set is the post-Civil War South and follows three characters as they make their way in the post-slavery world.

Pitts, a columnist for the Miami Herald, won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

Charlotte's Amy Clipston to sign new novel at LifeWay stores

Charlotte author Amy Clipston will sign copies of "Reckless Heart," her first young adult novel in her Kauffman Amish Bakery series, on Thursday and Friday, May 18 and 19, in Charlotte.

Clipston will be signing books at 5 p.m. May 18 at the LifeWay store at 10412 Centrum Parkway in Pineville. At 1 p.m. on May 19, she'll be at the LifeWay at 8821 J.W. Clay Blvd.

The novels in Clipston's Kauffman Amish Bakery series, set in Lancaster County, Pa., have regularly won places on Christian fiction bestseller lists. "Reckless Love," is the series' first novel aimed at young-adult readers.

Lots of Carolinas titles up for SIBA awards

Carolinas authors and publishing houses are well represented among finalists for this year's Southern Independent Book Awards, given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance.

In the fiction category alone, there's Anna Jean Mayhew's "The Dry Grass of August." She grew up in Charlotte. Also on the list are Davidson College graduate John Hart's "Iron House" and Charles Frazier's "Nightwoods." Frazier lives near Raleigh.

Two Charlotte authors are also finalists in the young adult category: Carrie Ryan for "The Dark and Hollow Places" and A.J. Hartley for "Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact."

Nonfiction nominees include Robert Morgan's "Lions of the West" and Celia Rivenbark's "You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl." Morgan, who teaches at Cornell University, grew up in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. Rivenbark lives in Wilmington.

Morgan' "Terroir" is also a nominee in the poetry category. So is Ron Rash's "Waking." Rash, who grew up in Boiling Springs, teaches at Western Carolina University.

Check out the whole list here. Winners will be announced on July 4 -- Independence Day. (Also, Independents' Day. Get it?)

Charlotte author writes "The Boy Who Stole the Leopard's Spots"

Tamar Myers must be one of Charlotte's hardest-working -- and successful -- writers.

Over 15 years, she churned out more than 35 books as part of two comedic mystery series, one featuring a Mennonite innkeeper, the other an antiques dealer. More than 2 million copies have sold.

That's pretty impressive. But here's what makes me really happy for Myers: In 2009, she published "The Witch Doctor's Wife," a book that drew on her experiences growing up in the Congo, the daughter of missionaries.

She'd written it years earlier, and publishers had repeatedly rejected it. The content, they said, was too exotic.

When it was finally published, it got a starred Publishers Weekly review. Since then, she's continued the series. "The Headhunter's Daughter" was published last year.

And now comes the third book in the series: "The Boy Who Stole the Leopard's Spots" (William Morrow; $14.99.) Set in the Belgian Congo of 1958, it, too, is winning warm reviews. "Edge-ofyour-seat tragicomedy," Booklist says.

Myers will read and sign copies of her book 7 p.m. May 24 at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

Memoir offers a bright side to Alzheimer's Disease

I once covered aging for this newspaper, so I've seen my share of poignant stories about people with Alzheimer's Disease. I've written a few myself, and I lived through one, with my mom as main character.

What I haven't seen is a book like Robert Leleux's "The Living End: A Memoir of Forgetting and Forgiving."

In his new memoir, Leleux ("Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy") finds that the dementia that plagues his beloved grandmother, pictured here with him, has one positive side. It causes her to forget that she's been estranged from her daughter -- his mother -- for decades.

As her memory faded, so did grudges and hurt feelings. She forgot to be angry. And when she was reunited with her daughter, their relationship gained a new life.

Leleux will be in Charlotte for a reading and book signing, 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 16, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.