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This Saturday’s book fair to be ‘best ever,’ organizers say
By Lynn Hotaling
This year’s fourth-annual Great Smoky Mountain Book Fair will include more variety, literature and personalities than any of its predecessors, according to organizer Joyce Moore of City Lights Bookstore.
Set for this Saturday, Nov. 10, at First United Methodist Church, the books-and-authors event will begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 3 p.m., with 20 percent of the day’s sales going directly to the Jackson County Library building fund.
“Everyone is invited to meet the more than 50 authors, hear readings, and stock up for Christmas with autographed books for readers of all interests and ages,” Moore said.
This year’s festivities have also expanded to include a program on the eve of the fair: a one-woman performance of “On Agate Hill.” Like the next day’s fair, the Friday, Nov. 9, staging of “On Agate Hill” will be at Sylva Methodist. A tax-deductible $25 ticket buys a seat for the performance and admission to a pre-show gathering featuring heavy hors d’oeuvres; the reception starts at 6 p.m., and curtain time for the play is 7 p.m. The Friday program is being organized by the Friends of the Library, and all proceeds from ticket sales will be earmarked for the library fund.
Adapted from the Lee Smith novel of the same name, “On Agate Hill” features Barbara Bates Smith, who is noted for her adaptation and off-Broadway performance of “Ivy Rowe,” which was adapted from another Lee Smith novel, “Fair and Tender Ladies.” The production is directed by Suzanne Tinsley, with musical accompaniment by Jeff Sebens who will play banjo, hammered dulcimer, and lap dulcimer. “On Agate Hill” is this year’s “Together We Read” selection for Western North Carolina.
Following the play, Bates-Smith and Jackson County Librarian Dottie Brunette will lead a forum to discuss “On Agate Hill.”
For the first time this year, book fair visitors will need to purchase tickets for the fair itself. The cost will be $5, with all children who are accompanied by an adult admitted for free.
“It’s really more of a ‘donation,’ because 100 percent of the admission charge will go to the library building fund,” said Moore. “Now that a location (Courthouse Hill overlooking downtown Sylva) has been chosen for our new library, we wanted to find a way to increase the revenue from the event. Selling tickets is also a way to give people who might not be able to attend the book fair a way to contribute to the library project.”
A ticket to the Nov. 9 staging of “On Agate Hill” includes book fair admission, and Moore emphasized that all children can attend the fair for free with an adult.
A highlight of each previous book fair has been readings and talks by selected authors. While those programs were successful, Moore said fair organizers have moved in a different direction this year and plan a series of interactive author panels organized around a common theme.
“The panels are a response to customer comments,” Moore said of the book fair’s new approach.
The moderators include local literary luminaries like North Carolina Poet Laureate Kay Byer of Cullowhee, and award-winning young adult novelist Sue Ellen Bridgers of Sylva. Others are Western Carolina University’s Richard Starnes, Scott Philyaw and Martin DeWitt, Jackson County Librarian Dottie Brunette and Fontana Regional Library Board Chairman Vance Davidson.
“The panels will offer book fair visitors a chance to learn about people who write differently about the same topic,” Moore said.
A poetry session, moderated by Byer, will kick off the day’s programs at 9:30 a.m. Titled “Finding a Voice,” that session will feature WCU poet Catherine Carter, Nancy Dillingham and Keith Flynn.
Next up, at 10:30 a.m., will be a discussion titled “Food and Memories.” Moderated by Brunette, it will include Asheville caterer Laurey Masterton, Joseph Dabney and Louise Nelson.
A locally-themed session, “Traveling These Mountains,” is also planned at 10:30 a.m. It will include authors Barbara Duncan, Georgann Eubanks and Jim Parham and will be moderated by Starnes, who is also the author of a book on tourism in Western North Carolina.
Concurrent discussion groups are planned for the rest of the fair as well. The 11:30 a.m. hour’s offerings are “Mysteries of Publishing,” featuring Donna Ball, P.T. Deuterman and Vicki Lane along with a yet-to-be-determined moderator; and “Stories with a Sense of Place,” to be moderated by Philyaw and include authors Wayne Caldwell, Joan Medlicott, and John Lane.
On tap from 12:30 until 1:30 p.m. will be “Writing for Young Adults,” moderated by Bridgers with writers Judity Geary, Alan Gratz and Kerry Madden, author of a series set in Maggie Valley; and “Art and Nature,” with Asheville’s “Wild Gardener” Peter Loewer, Cathryn and John Silas, and Bryson City’s naturalist team of George and Elizabeth Ellison.
Closing out the fair’s panel offerings at 1:30 p.m. will be “Music for Children of All Ages,” featuring singer/songwriter David LaMotte and Betty Smith; and “What Makes People Laugh,” moderated by Davidson and including Sylva native Curtis Blanton, Asheville Citizen-Times columnist Susan Reinhart and George Singleton.
For the younger set, children’s author Helen Moore will be on hand outside the church with her llama Floyd at 10:30 a.m. to talk about her book, “Treks with Floyd.” In addition to books, she will have plush toys available for sale.
“Floyd was a great favorite last year and drew a lot of visitors,” Moore said.
During both the Friday and Saturday events a silent auction will be held during which themed gift baskets and author-donated items will be available. Collectible signed and numbered hand-lettered posters donated by Frank Brannon of SpeakEasy Press will also be for sale.
Another “first” for this year’s fair is a series of related events on Saturday at other downtown locations.
Brannon, who designed the book fair posters, will have an exhibit at the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.
Titled “Cherokee Phoenix: Advent of a Newspaper,” Brannon’s exhibit covers, in nine panels, topics related to the printing of the Cherokee Phoenix, the newspaper published for the Cherokee nation in north Georgia before the Trail of Tears.
A second event, which is designed for children age 4 and older, will be held at City Lights Bookstore. Pamella O’Connor and Eva Scruggs will be on hand with their book “The Little Cloud in the Crowd” for an 11 a.m. storytime. After the stories, the children will make puppets.
Illustrator Scruggs, who lives in Asheville, is the daughter of Joe and Peggy Hurt of Sylva.
All in all, the programs and the number of authors on hand should make this year’s fair the best ever, Moore said.
“I want people to know that this year’s fair is not a carbon copy of last year’s,” Moore said. “We have some repeating authors, but they will be bringing new books, and we have many other writers who will join us for the first time this year.”
Tickets will be available at the door or can be purchased in advance from City Lights or the Friends of the Library’s Used Bookstore. For more information about the Nov. 9 performance and Nov. 10 book fair, or to purchase tickets, call City Lights at 586-9499. Information is also available online at www.gsmbookfair.org.
The Book Fair is sponsored by City Lights Book Store, Friends of the Jackson County Main Library, and the WCU Honors College.
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