Library series to focus on books by North Carolina authors
By Steve Herring
Published in News on July 30, 2011 11:26 PM
NA20110731From staff reports
The Goldsboro branch of the Wayne County Public Library will host a nine-week, five-part reading and discussion program this fall as part of the Let's Talk About It program.
Created by the North Carolina Center for the Book, the series, Tar Heel Fiction: Stories of Home, will begin Saturday, Aug. 27 and continue every other Saturday until Oct. 22.
The program centers around five works by North Carolina authors. Each session will last approximately two hours and focuses on one novel, beginning with a lecture by a noted local scholar and followed by a group discussion.
The dates and books are:
* Aug. 27: "Raney" by Clyde Edgerton. Raney follows the naive, small-town title character and her husband, a sophisticated, liberal man from Atlanta, through the early years of their marriage. Raney will be presented by Lucinda MacKethan, recently retired from North Carolina State University, where she taught courses in Southern and African American literature for nearly 40 years and was named Alumni Distinguished Professor. She is also the author of six books.
* Sept. 10: "Oral History" by Lee Smith. Oral History tells the vivid, tragic history of the Cantrell family through multiple points of view. The scholar presenting this program is Rebecca Godwin, professor of English and director of the Ragan Writing Center at Barton College in Wilson.
* Sept. 24: "A Visitation of Spirits" by Randall Kenan. In this novel, an African American teenager struggles to come to terms with his identity, and with the rural culture that raised him, yet condemns him. David Carr, who for many years taught librarianship at the University of North Carolina's School of Library and Information Sciences, is the guest scholar for this program.
* Oct. 8: "Ferris Beach" by Jill McCorkle. Kate, a lonely adolescent girl, both admires and envies her best friend, whose freewheeling family life is the polar opposite of Kate's staid, proper upbringing. Ferris Beach will be presented by Kathy James, who retired from Barton College in 2010 after more than 30 years of distinguished service as a professor of English. Dr. James also chaired the Department of English and Modern Languages for 25 years.
* Oct. 22: "I Am One of You Forever" by Fred Chappell. Set in North Carolina during the 1940s, it follows 11-year-old Jess through his daily interactions with eccentric neighbors and family members on their small mountain farm. The scholar presenting this work is Joe Gomez, professor of English and the founding director of the Film Studies Programs at North Carolina State University and Wayne State University. Gomez is the author of several books and essays on film, and has been a participant in the Let's Talk About It program for about a decade.
To register for any or all of these programs, contact the Wayne County Library Reference Department at 919-735-1824, extension 3. Participants may register for as many or as few sessions as they choose. Titles for the programs will be available for checkout at the Goldsboro library.