Reading at Flyleaf Books April 4 @ 7 pm

MOTHERS AND STRANGERS READING AT FLYLEAF BOOKS APRIL 4 AT 7 pm with SAMIA SERAGELDIN, LEE SMITH, STEPHANIE GRIEST, MARIANNE GINGHER, MAICHAEL MALONE.

Southern independent Booksellers Pick Mothers & Strangers

Book Launch at Quail Ridge April 1!

April 1 Book Launch for Mothers and Strangers

Looking forward to the April 1st 2019 book launch of Mothers and Strangers at Quail Ridge in Raleigh! Joining me and Co-editor Lee Smith will be celebrated auhtors Jill McCorkle, Steven Petrow, Elaine Neil Orr, Hal Crowther. Sure to be a lively and entertaining event, not to be missed.

Reading at NC Festival of Books February 23, 2:15 pm

Excited to be reading with Jill McCorkle, Belle Boggs and Daniel Wallace at CAM Raleigh on a Mothers  and Strangers panel!

Great Reading for Mothers and Strangers with Daniel Wallace at Frank Gallery Decemebr 15, 2018

A standing room only audience graciously applauded Daniel Wallace (filling in for Lee Smith) and myself at a reading in conjunction with the opening photo exhibit for Barbara Tyroler and Peter Filene at Frank Gallery in Chapel Hill. Daniel Wallace and I read from our respective essays in the upcoming anthology, Mothers and Strangers. If the book launch in early April is as successful as our two preview readings have been, this is very promising!

BIG SUCCESS FOR OUR MOTHERS AND STRANGERS PREVIEW READING

Big success for our Mothers and Strangers Preview Reading October 24 at Block Gallery, Raleigh.
Eight writers, including me and co-editor Lee Smith, read to a standing room only audience. Also reading: Novelist Jill McCorkle, NC Poet Laureate '18 Jaki Shelton Green, Lynden Harris, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Belle Boggs, Margaret Rich.

Preview Reading for Mothers & Strangers October 24th!

Exciting Day, Wednesday October 24: Our Preview Reading for Mothers & Strangers!
Raleigh Television News will be filming the entire event, Noon to 1 pm.
At Block Gallery, 222 Hargett St, Raleigh downtown.
Reading with me is a high-powered roster in the ranks of Southern literature: best-selling novelists Lee Smith and Jill McCorkle, Jaki Shelton Greene, Lynden Harris, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Belle Boggs, Margaret Rich. Barbara Tyroler photographed me, see below, for the concurrent exhibition along with five other authors, and Elizabeth Matheson photographed three others.

Mothers, Daughters and the Writing Life Artists Reception at Block Gallery, Raleigh

The opening night of the photography exhibition on October 6 was a notable success, with the photographers Barbara Tyroler and Elizabeth Matheson; Raleigh Arts Curator Stacy Bloom-Rexrode, and several of the writers featured in the photos, including Jill McCorkle, Margaret Rich, Lynden Harris, and myself; as well as several writers from our anthology, Mothers and Strangers, who were not featured in the exhibition. So gratifying to see the success of an idea that Barbara Tyroler and I conceived months ago!

The Origin Story

Two years ago almost to the day, my friend Margaret Rich emailed to tell me her mother had just passed away in Greenville, SC, and I wrote back to tell her that my mother had just passed away on the same day in Cairo, Egypt, and that I was at the airport on my way there. Of that strange  coincidence was conceived the idea for this book, and with Lee Smith instantly and enthusiastically involved, it saw the light of day. So today is a day of bittersweet remembrance, as well as gratitude for good friends.
In remembrance, here is a black and white photo of my mother on her wedding day, as I believe she would best want to be remembered.