Dalton State recognizes National Library Week with literary celebration of Northwest Georgia

Published 12:20 pm Thursday, April 8, 2010

Dalton State College will recognize National Library Week with its inaugural local authors’ forum called Home Grown: A Literary Celebration of Northwest Georgia.

This year, National Library Week is April 11-17, and the college’s library staff will play host to authors who write in or write about northwest Georgia April 12-15 with several events on campus.

“We see this as a kind of literary festival to be held annually,” said library director Lydia Knight. “Because we have so many faculty authors and the region has so many local authors, we thought it would be a good idea to invite them to share their work with our students and the community.”

Two events will be held in the daytime, and two at night, and each will take place in the Goodroe Auditorium of Memorial Hall. All are free and open to the public.

At noon on Monday, Rome resident Raymond Atkins, author of “The Front Porch Prophet,” will talk about his book, which received the 2009 Independent Book Publishers Gold Medal for Southeast Regional Fiction.

Atkins, who was named 2009 Georgia Author of the Year by the Georgia Writers Association, writes a regular column in the Memphis Downtowner Magazine and the Rome News-Tribune and his works have been published in The Lavender Mountain Anthology, The Blood and Fire Review, and The Old Red Kimono. His novel deals with best friends from childhood who part ways, but who are reunited when a tragic life event draws them back together.

At noon on Tuesday, Deborah G. King will discuss her book “Somewhere in Germany.” The Rocky Face native has written the tender true story of her uncle, a World War II veteran, who fell in love with Anna, a German girl, during the war but ultimately returned to the United States, leaving his heart behind.

After her uncle, Paul Crook, died, King discovered Anna’s letters to Paul in an old hat box. Once they were translated into English, King chronicled the love story, including its shocking ending.

At 6 p.m. on Wednesday, a panel of Dalton State College authors will discuss their works. Included will be Marsha Mathews, associate professor of English and author of “Northbound, Single Lane”; Chad Prevost, assistant professor of English and author of “A Walking Cliché Coins a Phrase”; and Barbara Tucker, associate professor of communications and author of “Traveling Through.”

Mathews’ book follows the journey of a woman who finds herself suddenly single and raising young children and it explores the themes of loss and separation, survival and renewal. Prevost, also the author of “Snapshots of the Perishing World,” is working on a new novel that focuses on an afflicted, snake-handling preacher. And Tucker’s “Traveling Through” centers on a minister’s family that is protecting a secret, and it deals with the themes of forgiveness and reconciliation.

And at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 15, Susan Gregg Gilmore will discuss her book “Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen.” The setting for the Nashville author’s first novel is around Catoosa County, where Gregg Gilmore spent summer vacations visiting her paternal grandparents during her childhood.

Her novel focuses on a revival-bred preacher who always took his granddaughters to the Dairy Queen after church on Sundays. Her second novel, “The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove,” will be released in August.

For more information about the events, please call (706) 272-4469.