conjunction with a community reading of Wolfe’s novel The Right Stuff. There will be other gatherings honoring Wolfe all month at Penick, The Country Bookshop and Weymouth. The Sunrise Theater will show the movie based on Wolfe’s novel. Info: thecountrybookshop.biz
By Sandra Redding
September: it was the most beautiful of words . . . evoking orange flowers, swallows and regret. — Alexander Theroux
September Book Events
2014–2015 Visiting Writers Series, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory. • September 4 (Thursday, 7 p.m.) George Saunders “pictured”, popular author of short-story anthologies and recipient of a Guggenheim grant and a MacArthur Genius grant. • September 25 (Thursday, 7 p.m.) Joshua Bennett, an award-winning spoken word poet with performances at the Kennedy Center and the White House. • October 23 (Thursday, 7 p.m.) Rebecca Skloot. Her novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a best-seller for four years, is being made into an HBO movie by Oprah Winfrey. • November 13 (Thursday, 7 p.m.) Colum McCann, winner of the National Book Award. His novel, Let the Great World Spin, is a best-seller on four continents. Info: visitingwriters.lr.edu • September 16–20 (Tuesday–Saturday) On the Same Page: Ashe County’s Literary Festival, West Jefferson. Sponsored by Ashe County Arts Council and Ashe County Library. Inspired readers rub elbows and learn with authors that include Wilton Barnhardt, Georgia Bonesteel, Kathryn Stripling Byer, Donna Campbell, Wiley Cash, Elliot Engel, Georgann Eubanks, Philip Gerard, Alan Hodge, Robert Inman, Daniel Wallace and Allan Wolf. Info: onthesamepagefestival.org • September 20 (Saturday, 10 a.m.) North Carolina Poetry Society Annual Fall Meeting, Weymouth Center, Southern Pines. Morning program features readings by winners of the Brockman-Campbell Book Award and the Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition. After lunch, celebrate the poetry and life of A. R. Ammons. Info: ncpoetrysociety.org • September 26–27 (Friday–Saturday) Tom Wolfe, Southern Pines. The Country Bookshop has partnered with Penick Village, a retirement community where Wolfe’s mother stayed. Wolfe will speak for their fiftieth anniversary in
• October 7 (Tuesday) Frank Amoroso, author of Behind Every Great Fortune, will talk about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the focus of his next book, in the Paynter Room, Northeast Library, Wilmington. simplyfrancispublishing.com
Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo. — Don Marquis Recently, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance honored two North Carolina authors. Former Poet Laureate Cathy Smith Bowers of Charlotte won top honors in the Poetry category for The Collected Poems of Cathy Smith Bowers, published by Press 53 of Winston-Salem. Chapel Hill’s Sarah Dessen, author of eleven novels, won the Young Adult category for The Moon and More. “Reading was my passion” are the words Nicholas Sparks, popular New Bern author, wants carved on his tombstone. Last year, his passionate fans eagerly endorsed his latest best-seller, The Longest Ride. Now this romance novel is being adapted by Fox for a motion picture in Wilmington. Some scenes will be shot in Winston-Salem and Greensboro. Warning: Stock up on tissues before beginning the book or attending the movie.
I do novels a bit backward. I look for a situation, a milieu first, then I wait to see who walks into it. —Tom Wolfe Billy Bowater, the first book published by E. C. Hanes of Winston-Salem, is a must-read for anyone interested in exploring the connection between art and soul, comprehending the back room strategy of politics, or simply wishing to locate and strengthen their own moral compass. Though a novel, this book is loosely based on Hanes’ own experiences as a politician, businessman and defender of the arts. By page eleven, you will be hooked by the charm of Billy and the observations of Lucy Lou, his outspoken gal-pal. blairpub.com Thanks for sending your literary news. Keep me updated at sanredd@earthlink.com. OH Greensboro writer Sandra Redding’s novel, Naomi Wise: A Cautionary Tale, is a riveting story about heartbreak and hope in a Quaker community. Email her at sanredd@earthlink.net.
PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 2014
113