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Regional authors to raise funds for library at Nov. 19 book fair
Addie’s Bob Terrell to be among readers
By Lynn Hotaling
Everyone who attends Sylva’s second book fair week after next can do more than simply buy a book.
Attendees can support a new library, meet some 50 regional authors and get a first look at Sylva First Methodist’s new building. They can also hear readings by a variety of authors including Jackson County natives Bob Terrell (Addie) and Gary Carden (Sylva) and national best-selling novelist Sharyn McCrumb.
Set for Saturday, Nov. 19, the second annual Great Smoky Mountains Book Fair will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Sylva First Methodist Church’s new Christian Life Center. The book fair, a fund-raiser for a new Jackson County Library, will feature some 50 regional authors who will sell and autograph books, with one-fifth of the proceeds earmarked for the library’s building fund.
The event, sponsored by City Lights, the Friends of the Jackson County Library, and Western Carolina University’s Honors College, has so many positives that bookstore owner Joyce Moore describes it as a “win-win-win-win-win” for everyone involved.
The first “win” is the fact that the fair will celebrate the literature of the southern Applachians, Moore said, and the second is the event’s emphasis on community – the fact that the authors are willing to donate their time and 20 percent of their day’s sales to a new library for Jackson County. The third “win” is the “fantastic opportunity the fair gives people to stock up on meaningful Christmas gifts while supporting their new library,” Moore said. Another “win” is the interaction between WCU and the local community, she said. And the final “win” is the example the authors are setting by supporting libraries and literacy,” Moore said.
This year’s book fair will boast two poet laureates. Former North Carolina poet laureate Fred Chappell, a Haywood County native, will be one of the authors who reads from their work, and the current Tar Heel poet laureate, Kay Byer of Cullowhee, will be the day’s emcee.
When asked to single out the “headliners” for this year’s fair, Moore said she couldn’t.
“The problem is, this year we have so many headliners that it’s impossible for all of them to offer readings,” she said.
As excited as she is about the authors’ lineup, Moore said she is equally thrilled with this year’s location in Sylva Methodist’s new addition.
“I want to encourage everyone to come and see what a beautiful space it is,” Moore said. “I think it will be a huge asset to the town of Sylva and the community for years to come.”
Last year’s fair attracted steady crowds and raised about $1,500, Moore said.
“It appeared that everyone who came bought at least one book,” Moore said.
In addition to the 20 percent of book sales that will go to the library, Friends of the Library will also raise money by selling raffle tickets on a large gift basket that Friends’ President Mary Selzer said would make an ideal Christmass present.
Friends is helping sponsor the fair because it’s a fund-raiser for the library and it provides an opportunity to promote reading and literacy, Selzer said.
“The book fair emphasizes the work of local authors and encourages community residents – especially young people – to interact with authors,” Selzer said. “It will also increase awareness and promote our local writers.”
Participating author Brian Railsback, who is also dean of WCU’s Honors College, said he welcomes the community service opportunities the book fair provides his freshman students.
“It’s very good for our freshmen to be involved,” he said. “It takes them beyond the boundaries of the university and gives them an opportunity to work with authors in a high-profile event.”
Railsback’s students contacted all the authors and prepared short biographies of each to include in a booklet that will be available at the fair. In addition, they designed and distributed fliers to publicize the event. On Nov. 19, students will assist authors and help tally visitors and sales.
A complete schedule of the authors who will read from their works during this year’s book fair follows:
10 a.m. – Kerry Madden, author of “Gentle’s Holler,” a young adult novel set in the Maggie Valley area.
10:30 a.m. – Marion Coe, author of six books, including the Appalachian novel “Eve’s Mountain.” Her newest historical novel is “Rachel’s Story: A Southern Girl in Pre-Civil War Boston.”
11 a.m. – Sylva storyteller Gary Carden, playwright and author of several books, including “Mason Jars in the Flood.”
11:30 a.m. – Doris Davenport, self-titled “Afrilachian” poet and author of “Soque Street Poems” and “Madness Like Morning Glories.”
Noon – Asheville’s Peter Loewer, the “Wild Gardener,” and author of many books, including “Moonflower” (for children) and most recently, “Native Perennials for the Southeast.”
12:30 p.m. – Sharyn McCrumb, best-selling author of the Appalachian Ballad Novels, including “Songcatcher,” and “St. Dale,” about NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt.
1 p.m. – Bob Terrell, popular columnist, humorist, and author of several books, including “Disorder in the Court.” Terrell, who still writes a weekly column for the Asheville Citizen-Times, worked for The Sylva Herald more than 50 years ago.
1:30 p.m. – Pamela Duncan, author of “Moon Women” and “Plant Life.”
2 p.m. – Fred Chappell, poet, novelist, and author of “Backsass: Poems” and “Look Back all the Green Valley.”
2:30 p.m. – Tuckasegee’s Thomas Crowe, poet, translator, essayist and author of the award-winning “Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods.”
Other authors scheduled to be at the Nov. 19 event include: Janet Baughman, Sue Ellen Bridgers, Hattie Davis, Julia Duncan, George Ellison, Wayne Erbsen, Amy Garza, Bonnie Habel, Tommy Hays, Wanda Henderson, Winn Henderson, John Henderson, David Hopes, Walter Hunt, Schuyler Kaufman, Catherine Landis, Vicki Lane, Yvonne Lehman, Eva McCall, Doug McGuinn, Joan Medlicott, Celia Miles, Louise Nelson, Scott Nicholson, Nancy Pafford, Nora Percival, Charles Price, Jack Pyle, Taylor Reece, Frankie Schelly, Janet Shaw, Barbara Swell, Ann Tatlock, Linda Vinson, Nan Watkins and Isabel Zuber.
For more information on this year’s book fair, call City Lights at 586-9499.
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