Writers group hosting memoir discussion
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on October 21, 2009 1:46 PM
Three North Carolina writers will be featured in a panel discussion at Wayne Community College next month.
"Me and My Memoirs," sponsored by the college's foundation, will be held on Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. in Room 101 of the Walnut Building. The event is free and open to the public.
The memoir, a narrative composed from personal experience, has become a popular form of writing, said WCC instructor Margaret Boothe Baddour.
"In the category with creative non-fiction, the memoir can include tales from one's past and characters met along the way," she said. "The interesting thing about the memoir is that it also can be unreliable, just like our memories."
Featured on the program will be Marianne Gingher of Chapel Hill, Gene Price of Dudley and Sandra Redding of Greensboro.
Ms. Gingher teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has published seven books, both fiction and non-fiction, most recently "Adventures in Pen Land: One Writer's Journey from Inklings to Ink," a comic memoir about what led her to write her first novel, "Bobby Rex's Greatest Hits." She also edited the new collection "Long Story Short: Flash Fiction by Sixty-Five of North Carolina's Finest Writers."
Price is retired after almost 60 years as a journalist. Many of the stories in his book, "Folks Around Here," span his half-century as managing editor, editor and editor emeritus of the "Goldsboro News-Argus." He has earned more than 40 state and national awards for writing, photography and public service.
Ms. Redding writes a column for the "Greensboro News & Record." Her publications include "Greensboro & Me: Dancing Through the Decades" and two portraits of Piedmont cities: "Greensboro, Portrait of Progress" and "Winston-Salem: Bright Star of the Future." She has published more than 25 short stories, over 30 poems, and many book reviews and feature articles.
The panel discussion will include readings from each writer's latest book of memoirs and questions from the audience. An autograph party will follow, hosted by the Goldsboro Writers Group and the WCC Creative Writing class.
For more information, contact the Foundation at 735-5151 or jek@waynecc.edu.