Submitted to the Daily Reflector September, 2006

Third Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming Brings Authors to ECU

    The third Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming will take place in Greenville September 29 and 30, 2006.  Building on the success of the 2005 Homecoming, this year’s event will celebrate the work of ten authors whose work focuses on North Carolina.  The general public is encouraged to attend this wonderful event celebrating eastern North Carolina’s authors and literary traditions.

    The celebration begins on Friday, September 29, at 7:30 pm with the 2006 Roberts Award for Literary Inspiration presentation and reception.  This year’s award winner is historian William S. Powell, editor of such valued reference works as the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography and North Carolina Gazetteer.  His newest work, the Encyclopedia of North Carolina, will be published this fall by the University of North Carolina Press.  The ceremony will begin with a desert reception, followed by remarks from authors Timothy Tyson and Shelby Stephenson.  After Mr. Powell receives his award, the celebration will continue with readings by Tyson and musical entertainment by Stephenson and his wife Linda.  The event will take place at the Club Level of Dowdey-Ficklen Stadium.

    Saturday’s events begin at 9:15 am with a panel discussion on North Carolina Folklore the panel includes Nancy Roberts, author of North Carolina Ghosts and Legends, and Barbara Braveboy-Locklear, an author and storyteller whose work has raised public awareness of the folklore and history of the Lumbee Indians of Robeson County.

    A panel focusing on children’s literature will begin at 11:15 featuring James Ransome, award winning illustrator of such works as Uncle Jed’s Barbershop and author Elisa Carbone, whose current work, Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607 focuses on one of the main goals of the 1607 expedition, locating the settlers of Roanoke's Lost Colony.

    A discussion by Southern women writers will begin at 2 pm.  The panel will feature Louise Shivers, author of the award winning novel Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail, and Linda Beatrice Brown, author of the novel Crossing Over Jordan, and the biographical work The Long Walk: The Story of the Presidency of Willa B. Player at Bennett College.

    The event’s keynote address will be delivered at 4:00 pm by author Michael Parker.  Parker, a native of Clinton, North Carolina, will discuss how the culture and people of eastern North Carolina have influenced his work.  As well as writing several novels, his stories have appeared in such journals as Carolina Quarterly, The Georgia Review, and The Oxford American as well as in several anthologies. He is currently working on a collection of stories, Don’t Make Me Stop Now, which is slated to be published in early 2007.

    All Saturday events will take place at ECU’s Willis Building on the corner of First and Reade Streets in Greenville.  On-site registration begins at 8:00 am and events will conclude at 5:00 pm.

    This years Homecoming is made possible through a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council, and is also sponsored by East Carolina University and the North Caroliniana Society.  Though the event is free to the public, early registration is preferred.  Registration at the door will be accepted as space permits.  Saturday’s events include a boxed luncheon with the authors.  Reservations and payment are required to take part in the luncheon.  More information on this part of Saturday’s plus expanded author biographies; directions; and registration forms, can be found on the Web at http://www.ecu.edu/cs-lib/ncc/brochure.cfm or by contacting Susan Butler, in the North Carolina Collection, at 252-328-0292 or via email lithomecoming@ecu.edu.
 

    Matthew Reynolds is a librarian in the Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection