Hillsborough Local Author Book Fair at a Glance

When: Saturday November 24, 10am-5pm

Where: The Orange County Public Library in Hillsborough

READING AND SIGNING SCHEDULE

AUTHOR QUICK REFERENCE

Jaki Shelton Green: Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina Poet Laureate, teaches Documentary Poetry at Duke University Center for Documentary Studies. Publications include: Dead on Arrival, Masks, Dead on Arrival and New Poems, Conjure Blues, singing a tree into dance, breath of the song (Carolina Wren Press), Feeding the Light (Jacar Press), i want to undie you (Jacar Press). Her awards include 2014 NC Literary Hall of Fame inductee, 2009 NC Piedmont Laureate, 2007 Sam Ragan Award in Fine Arts, and 2003 NC Award in Literature.

NANCY PEACOCK: Piedmont Laureate, Nancy Peacock is the author of the novels Life Without Water (chosen as a New York Times Notable Book), Home Across the Road, and The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson, as well as the memoir and “writing-in-the-real-world” guide A Broom of One’s Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning and Life.

Lee Smith: Lee Smith’s 17 works of fiction include the Civil War novel On Agate Hill, set mostly in Orange County. Her latest book Dimestore, is a memoir, also a love song and elegy for smalltown America. She lives in downtown Hillsborough where her house is often mistaken for the Burwell School. It is NOT the Burwell School, everybody!

Hal Crowther: Hal Crowther has appeared in Time, Newsweek, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Oxford American, Granta, the Independent, the Progressive Populist, and other independent weeklies around the country. He is the author of four books of essays including Unarmed but Dangerous: A Withering Attack on All Things Phony, Foolish, and Fundamentally Wrong with America Today.  Crowther is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, the Lillian Smith Book Award, and the Book of the Year award for essays from Foreward Reviews. He lives in Hillsborough, NC, with his wife, novelist, Lee Smith.

Allan Gurganus: Allan Gurganus, a North Carolina native, writes fiction including Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, White People and Local Souls.  He has won the National Magazine Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and four Emmys for adaptations of his work. Gurganus was named a Guggenheim Fellow and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is at work on a long novel, The Erotic History of a Southern Baptist Church.

Anna Jean Mayhew: Anna Jean (A. J.) Mayhew’s first novel, The Dry Grass of August won the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, and was a finalist for the Book Award from the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. A Blackstone Audio book was followed by six translations. A. J. was a writer in residence for a month at Moulin à Nef Studio Center in Auvillar, France, where she worked on her next novel, Tomorrow’s Bread, to be published in the spring of 2019. She’s working on her third novel. More at annajeanmayhew.com

James Maxey: James Maxey’s mother warned him if he didn’t stop reading comic books they’d warp his mind. She was right! Unsuited for decent work, Maxey ekes out a living writing down his demented fantasies. His books include Bitterwood, Nobody Gets the Girl, and There is No Wheel.  In what’s certainly an omen of the end times, Maxey was named the 2015 Piedmont Laureate. Read more about him at www.jamesmaxey.net

John Claude Bemis: John Claude Bemis is the award-winning author of seven books for young readers including The Wooden Prince and The Nine Pound Hammer. He was selected as North Carolina’s Piedmont Laureate for Children’s Literature and received the Excellence in Teaching Award from UNC-Chapel Hill for his work as an author-educator. He leads popular creativity workshops and writing retreats. Visit him at johnclaudebemis.com

Barbara Claypole White: Bestselling author Barbara Claypole White has created her own idiosyncratic niche in mainstream fiction: hopeful family drama with a healthy dose of mental illness. Originally from England, she writes and gardens in the forests of Orange County, where she lives with her beloved menfolk. Her novels include The Unfinished Garden, The In-Between Hour, The Perfect Son (a Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee for Best Fiction 2105), Echoes of Family, and The Promise Between Us. To connect with Barbara, please visit www.barbaraclaypolewhite.com

Laine Cunningham: In a style compared to Ian McEwan (Atonement), Laine Cunningham’s books give voice to people who have been silenced. Her latest novel, Reparation, follows a Native American man as he struggles to save his sister from a peyote cult. Laine’s debut, The Family Made of Dust, is destined to become the next The Book Thief. Fans of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Sharp Objects will be drawn to her dark second novel, Beloved.

Shannon Moore Fitzgerald: Shannon Fitzgerald has been enjoying children’s books her whole life, as an Elementary school teacher, mother, childcare provider, and of course as a child herself – it’s no wonder she loves to write them! She creates books that help children connect to their feelings and special moments in their lives. Shannon loves to visit classrooms sharing her books and the writing process with students. She lives in Hillsborough NC with her husband, daughter, and a large orange tabby cat named Pumpkin.

Samantha Bryant: Samantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher, a mom, and a novelist. Her
secret superpower is finding lost things. She writes The Menopausal Superhero series, and other feminist leaning speculative
fiction.

Harry Kavros: Harry Kavros wanted to preserve his grandmother’s memory. So he went to live in the Cretan mountain village where she grew up, interviewed locals who remembered her, and wandered around the island. The result is Dandelions and Honey, a book of essays about Greek memories, food, religion, and rebellions — interspersed with stories of his grandmother’s childhood and the fairy tales her mother told her.

Frances M. Wood: Frances M. Wood was a reader who became a librarian who became an author. Always, she has been a writer. A former California girl, she moved to North Carolina as a young women, and has lived here ever since. You can learn about her books at www.francesmwood.com.

Elizabeth Hein: Elizabeth Hein writes women’s fiction with a bit of an edge. Her novels explore the role of friendship in the lives of adult women and themes of identity. How To Climb The Eiffel Tower follows one young woman as she navigates the world of cancer treatment with the help of her friends. Overlook and Escape Plan chronicle how a small group of women bands together to free themselves from terrible marriages and forge their own paths in life. You can learn more about Elizabeth’s books at ElizabethHein.com.

Anne Anthony: Anne Anthony’s career spans diverse fields — community organizer, social worker, technical writer, software project manager and business analyst. Most recently she escaped the frosty North to the warmth of North Carolina where she writes full time. She’s been published in Prime Number Magazine, North Carolina Literary Review, Carolina Woman, Dead Mule School for Southern Literature and elsewhere. She recently released The Collection: Flash Fiction for Flash Memory, an anthology of stories selected for adults experiencing memory changes. Check out her website at anneanthony.weebly.com.

Dori Ann DuprÉ: Dori is the author of the international award winning debut novel, Scout’s Honor, and Good Buddy, her second novel, currently represented. She has several published short stories and poems and serves as a contributing blogger to the Hope For Widows Foundation. Dori is launching her free grief writing workshop, Grieve the Write Way, in 2019. Lastly, she is the proud mother of two young adult daughters, works full time for the state of North Carolina, is a United States Army veteran, and currently resides in Raleigh with her two dachshunds, Stretch and Slinky.

Emily Buehler: Emily’s background in chemistry and years as a bread baker led her to write Bread Science, a book on the science and practice of bread-making. Her second book, Somewhere and Nowhere, is a memoir of a bicycle trip from New Jersey to Oregon. She is currently working on three fiction novels—one science fiction, one women’s fiction, and one fairytale romance. She’s also a freelance copyeditor, and if she has any free time, she usually just wants to read. Check out her website for news, classes, tips for writers, and recipes: http://emilybuehler.com. Find her on Twitter as @ephemerily.

Max Dowdle: Max Dowdle is the creator behind the mind-bending graphic novel Shattered With Curve Of Horn, as well as co-author and artist of An Unlikely Refugee, a non-fiction graphic novel held in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute. Painter, writer, teacher, Max Dowdle lives in North Carolina, the state of his birth, with his wife and daughter, where he continues to seek illumination of life through ever-expanding expressions of art.

Morrow Dowdle: Morrow Dowdle is a poet residing in Hillsborough and has published in a variety of journals and anthologies since 2008.  Her first chapbook, Nature v. Nurture was released in November 2018.  She also writes graphic stories in partnership with her artist husband Max Dowdle, including the novel An Unlikely Refugee, which was produced in conjunction with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.  In addition, she writes articles on mental health and wellness for local publications and works as a mental health care provider.

Pam Baggett: Pam Baggett’s new book of poetry, Wild Horses, was chosen as a runner-up for the Cathy Smith Bowers Chapbook Contest and published by Main Street Rag. Poet Terri Kirby Erickson describes Wild Horses as “a barebacked, buck-naked ride on the slick haunches of fate (to the tune of “Riders on the Storm”) all the way from the mystical land of sex, drugs, and rock & roll to the bedside of a dying friend.” Pam co-hosts the Second Thursday Poetry Reading Series at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill and teaches free writing workshops at the Orange County Library in Hillsborough.

Carol A. Strickland: Although born in a small town noted for demonic possession cases, Carol claims that those voices inside her head are a result of having stories to tell. Even so, her strange devotion to Wonder Woman would seem to indicate an abby-normal brain. A one-time comics letterhack and outspoken member of various comics message boards, Carol has found herself the basis for two comic book villains (at times her opinions have not been taken well by the books’ creators) (both villains were soundly thrashed) and had one superhero wear her costume design. (Light Lass!) She is the author of seven novels.

Nancy Haines: Nancy Haines worked 17 years as an engineer, then ran an antiquarian bookstore. 25 years later she retired and fulfilled a lifelong dream to be an author. She wrote a book about Quakers in France during WWI based on the love letters of two pacifists and a picture book for Quaker children. Visit her website: nancyhaines.wordpress.com

Suzanne Adair: Award-winning novelist Suzanne Adair is a Florida native who lives in North Carolina. Her mysteries transport readers to the Southern theater of the American Revolution, where she brings historic towns, battles, and people to life. She fuels her creativity with Revolutionary War reenacting and visits to historic sites. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking, dancing, and hiking.