Series on Publishing Continues

Posted on February 13, 2018February 13, 2018 by Jessica

Our series on publishing, Literary Jungle, Literary Community, continues at Scuppernong Books on Wednesday, February 21 at 7pm, with Part Two: Publishing with a Small Press. Learn what to expect when publishing with a Small Press, what they are looking for, and how they operate at this informative panel discussion. We’ll have Kevin Watson from Press 53, Ross White from Bull City Press, Lynn York from Blair, and Andrew Saulters from Unicorn Press, five North Carolina Small Presses who publish in many genres, to discuss the state of small press publishing and answer your questions.

The series is part of a year-long celebration of the diversity of voices and ideas in the literary world. This series is a program of Greensboro Bound: A Literary Festival. The third part of the series will take place on Wednesday March 21 at 7pm at Scuppernong Books. This program, titled Literary Citizenship will explore what it means to be a literary citizen, the vital importance of writing community not only in supporting our writing, but also the marketing and sales of a book. Panelists will include Terry Kennedy, Ashley Lumpkin, Julia Ridley-Smith, and Ed Southern.

For more information, call Scuppernong Books at 336-763-1919

Nikki Giovanni, Carmen Maria Machado headline Greensboro Bound

Posted on February 6, 2018February 13, 2018 by Jessica

by Mary Coyne Wessling

GREENSBORO, NC – Greensboro Bound: A Literary Festival is on track to welcome more than seventy writers, poets, and spoken word artists for its inaugural 3-day national book festival, May 18-20, 2018.

During this gathering of diverse voices and ideas, writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry will take part in discussions, book signings, readings, and more.

Headliners include the following writers.

Nikki Giovanni is one of America’s preeminent poets, Ms. Giovanni is also a nonfiction writer, activist, and professor, and a frequent guest speaker on college campuses and literary festivals. Among her many honors are the NAACP Image Award, the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, and the Langston Hughes Medal for Outstanding Poetry. She will give the festival’s concluding keynote lecture on Sunday, May 20.

Lee Smith was the author most requested by the readers surveyed by festival coordinators. Smith’s most recent work Dimestore: A Writer’s Life, offers thoughts on place, memory, and writing. Lee, who resides in Hillsborough, NC, published her first novel 45 years ago and since then has published more than a dozen books and won numerous literary awards.

John T. Edge is the author of The Potlikker Papers, a personal history of Southern food. He is director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. He contributes to the Oxford American and the New York Times, and has written for Garden & Gun and Afar.

Kevin Powers’s debut novel, The Yellow Birds, drew on his experiences in the Iraq War. Chosen by New York Times Critics as one of the best novels of 2012, it has become a classic contemporary war fiction. His new novel, Shout in the Ruins, starts in the Civil War and spans more than 100 years.

Carmen Maria Machado’s debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, was a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. She is a fiction writer, critic, and essayist. Her stories have been reprinted in Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, Best Horror of the Year, and Best Women’s Erotica.

John Duberstein and Lucy Kalanithi gained recognition in the literary world when their respective spouses’ memoirs were published to great acclaim. When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi’s memoir of facing lung cancer before dying at age 37, came out in 2016. The Bright Hour, Nina Riggs’s memoir of living with breast cancer was published soon after she died, at age 39, in 2017. Duberstein and Kalanithi, who are now a couple and whose love story was recently told in the Washington Post, will appear in conversation.

Other nationally recognized writers slated to attend are author Daniel Wallace, author and political commentator Jared Yates Sexton, reporter and author Beth Macy, Iranian-American poet and scholar Kaveh Akbar, and fiction writer Leesa Cross-Smith.

The festival line up also includes Katie Button, author and chef; Joan Nathan, cookbook author; Stacy McAnulty, children’s author; novelist Michael Parker; former North Carolina Poet Laureate Fred Chappell; journalist Hal Crowther; John Claude Bemis, North Carolina Piedmont Laureate for Children’s Literature; Naima Coster, novelist; and poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi.

Mary Coyne Wessling is a free lance writer and editor and member of the Greensboro Bound marketing and public relations committee.

Wiley Cash is Greensboro Bound

Posted on October 10, 2017October 10, 2017 by Jessica

by Brian Lampkin

On Thursday, October 19, at 7:00 pm, the novelist Wiley Cash will return to Scuppernong Books to read from his latest work The Last Ballad. This event is co-sponsored by Scuppernong and Greensboro Bound. Author Bryant Simon will also read from his excellent nonfiction book, The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives.

In anticipation of this event, we asked Wiley a few questions.

GB: I’ve heard you talk about how responsible you felt to the real historical figures your characters in The Last Ballad are based on, particularly Ella May. How do you feel about that responsibility now that the book is out in the world? Do you want to write more “historical” novels?

WC: I didn’t consciously think of this as an historical novel while writing it. Of course I knew I was writing about a particular moment in 1929, but my first novel was about a particular moment in 1986, and my second was about a particular moment in 1998. The Loray Mill strike is a real event, but I had digested the facts of it so wholly that when I sat down to write the novel, it felt as if the story were coming from me. I gave very little thought to its being historical. It felt urgent and real, and that made it feel present in a strange way. I don’t know that I’ll consciously choose to write or not write another historical novel, but I think I’ll always be conscious, when trying to delve into an historical moment, to do so in a way that makes it feel real for me and the reader.

GB: You let the readers know up front that Ella May will die. Why did you make that choice?

WC: I wanted the reader to carry the trauma of her death throughout the experience of reading the book. I wanted every moment of struggle and triumph and bravery and fear to be colored by the reader’s knowledge that someone would murder her because she dared take a stand for what she believed was right. All she was asking for was a living wage so that she could keep herself and her children alive. I wanted to the reader to spend the entire 400 pages knowing that she was killed for daring to demand such a small thing.

GB: There are some evil men in your book, some without any redeeming characteristics. Can you talk about that in terms of labor history?

WC: I truly believe that the root of evil is greed, and labor laws were created in response to greed. A few of the characters in my novel are animated by greed and violence. It’s their language, their worldview, and their understanding of humanity. It colors their daily lives. It’s the responsibility of the American government, and by extension American democracy, to protect citizens from all dangers, foreign and domestic. Greed is one of those clear and present dangers.

GB: I love the map on the endpapers. Did you have any say in that? Any say in jacket design?

WC: I’m really fortunate in that I have an editor and publisher who are willing to listen to my ideas, however wrong-headed they may be. I share a publisher with Paulette Giles, whose News of the World features a gorgeous map on the endpapers. I saw that book and said, “I want one of those!”
The jacket was designed by a woman named MumTaz Mustafa, who also did the jacket design for the paperback of A Land More Kind than Home. She’s brilliant. Her covers are easily my favorites of the covers I’ve had.

GB: What makes a literary festival an exciting experience for writers? What are the pitfalls of festivals for writers?

WC: I love literary festivals. It’s such a great opportunity to get to know a local place, what the readers like, what the bookstores like to hand sell. And I love hearing other writers speak, and I love being in the audience while they field questions.

While I love festivals, they can feel a little isolating sometimes. You fly into a city you don’t know well. You check into a hotel. You open the program and see all the names of writers you admire. And then you open your door and look out into the hallway and think, “Where the hell is everyone?” And then you go down to the bar alone and have a drink and wait for people to show up.

GB: Ever read much John Sayles?
WC: No, but I will now.

Shetterly Packs the House

Posted on October 2, 2017October 2, 2017 by Jessica

By Glenn Perkins

Greensboro loves Margot Lee Shetterly. When she appeared at Scuppernong Books this past winter, a line of folks snaked around the block, eager to have their books signed. The Hidden Figures author came back to town in May to deliver UNCG’s commencement address. And this past Thursday, she was here again, speaking to hundreds at Guilford Technical Community College in the morning, then packing Dana Auditorium at Guilford College that same evening.

The evening program, the main event for Greensboro Public Library’s 2017 One City One Book initiative, featured a conversation between Shetterly and Greensboro author and educator Lea Williams. Shetterly spoke eloquently about her inspirations for writing the book, her research process, and some of the women whose scientific contributions are revealed in Hidden Figures. Asked if she has been surprised at the book’s success, Shetterly replied that it must have been the “right story for the right time.”

The “right stories for the right time” might make a good motto for Greensboro Bound, too, as we work to bring writers from across the country to share their words with our community.

The right stories might be tales of struggles against injustice, of technological innovation, of pieces of history we’ve not yet heard. They might take the form of children’s stories, poems, novels, biographies or journalistic exposés.

The wonderful turnout on Thursday and the continued enthusiasm about Shetterly’s visits shows that Greensboro is eager to hear important stories, to listen to their authors, and to participate in events about books. Come May 2018, we look forward to filling rooms with people keen to hear more great authors and more great stories.

Writing as a Third Act – A Short Video

Posted on September 27, 2017September 27, 2017 by Jessica

Never Too Late to Start Writing

Posted on September 20, 2017September 20, 2017 by Jessica

by Carol Roan

If you have a story to tell, a story that’s been running through your head for years, it’s time to begin writing. No one else knows that story and how it ends.

If you’ve ever had an experience that changed your life, it’s time to begin writing. No one else had your epiphany in a New Jersey lecture hall, or in a French mountain village.

If you have hard-earned knowledge that you’d like to pass on to the next generation, it’s time to begin writing. No one else has figured out why your start-up software company failed and knows the lessons you learned from that failure.

If you remember your pride as you walked past blue stars hanging in your neighbor’s windows during World War II and your sense of loss when a gold star replaced the blue, it’s time to begin writing. No one else has your memories. No one else has the same perspective on the 1940s, the 1950s, the 1960s.

Your creative ability isn’t limited by age. Your brain is still ready and able to add new cells, to make new connections, and to learn a new craft. You’ve learned by now that learning is about process, not about memorization or rules. You’ve learned where and how to find the information you’ll need to begin a new stage of life. You’ve learned how to trust yourself and how to work through your fears and doubts. You’ve learned what gives your life meaning and what needs to be left behind.

Until we reach fifty, how we live is colored by our futures—those we expect to have and those we imagine are possible. After fifty, our perspectives take on the hues of both past and future—tinted by memories of past loves and joys, stained by memories of war and suffering, and made more poignant by the knowledge that this spring’s blooms or this morning’s cup of coffee with a friend may be the last and must be savored fully.

On Sunday, September 24, at 2 pm, Greensboro Bound will sponsor “Writing As The Third Act: Writers over 50 on Craft, Creativity, and Aging” at Scuppernong Books, 304 South Elm Street, in Greensboro. Come join a conversation with four of us who began our writing careers after we were fifty, and learn why it’s never too late to start writing.

One City, One Book 2017

Posted on August 22, 2017August 22, 2017 by Jessica

By Gale Greenlee

Here at Greensboro Bound, we’re not just building a festival, we’re building community. And when something awesome involving books is happening in Greensboro, we want to share that news.

Every two years, the Greensboro Public Library brings people together with its community-wide reading initiative known as One City, One Book (OCOB). The premise is simple: the Library chooses a book and challenges as many residents as possible to read and talk about it. For more than two months, people gather in schools and libraries, in parks and homes, and on the streets. And on Saturday, August 26, we hope the streets will be buzzing as the Library launches its 8th OCOB with a celebratory block party.

For the first time in OCOB’s history, the Greensboro community helped choose the book. After a selection committee whittled down the options, hundreds of community members weighed in and voted. The winner? Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. The book schools us on the invaluable contributions black female mathematicians made to NASA’s space program, all while living in the midst of Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Cold War.

Maybe you already know about these awe-inspiring women called “human computers.” The book made the New York Times bestseller list, after all. Maybe you’ve seen the Oscar-nominated movie starring Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, and Taraji P. Henson – who, for the record, entered college as an engineering major at N.C. A&T (Aggie Pride!). Or maybe you’ve heard about Greensboro’s many connections to Hidden Figures; the real-life daughter of Henson’s character calls the Gate City her home, and many of NASA’s early female recruits came from what’s now UNCG. Whatever the case, here’s your chance to read the book, see the blockbuster film at LeBauer Park, and participate in important conversations about civil rights, racial and gender justice, and persistent inequities in STEM fields, our nation, and our community.

Book discussions (a.k.a. real talk about real issues) ground the project. But in true OCOB fashion, the line-up also includes family-friendly, fun events and programs that move beyond the book. There will be rocket launches and drone demos, vintage fashion shows, live radio broadcasts, and old school Sci-Fi films. You can try your hand at some kitchen chemistry or explore coding. Meet some of Greensboro’s own “hidden figures,” like members of local immigrant and refugee communities, or women entrepreneurs working in holistic therapy, yoga, and personal care. Learn about “hidden epidemics” like domestic violence or “hidden issues” like those affecting individuals with disabilities.

OCOB is about a book, but it’s about much more. So read the book and join the conversation. Be a part of the community.

For a complete calendar of One City, One Book programs, including Margot Lee Shetterly’s September 28 visit, click here.