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General Information

The Friends of the Library began a new tradition in the fall of 2002 by offering an academic aspect to the Wingate University Homecoming festivities. The FOL group invites local and regional authors to speak to the group. Guests enjoy a delightful author’s discussion, assorted coffees and pastries, book signings, and a chance to meet and talk with the author.

2007 – Elizabeth Silance Ballard-Ungar

Elizabeth Silance Ballard-Ungar’s collection of short stories, Three Letters from Teddy and Other Stories, to touch the heart.  Those who are acquainted with Teddy Stallard and his teacher, Miss Thompson, will enjoy further stories of this teacher's ability to touch the lives of her students. Other stories include "The Christmas Nandina" which tells of a dying woman's effort to make her last Christmas special for her three young boys.  "Big Rocks Cafe" shows us another aspect of the homeless while "The Mirror" shows us another face of aging.  These and other stories will touch you and perhaps cause you to look at those around you in a different way.

Her short story, "Three Letters from Teddy," first appeared in 1974 and has been almost continuously in print every year since that time in various publications. Marian Wright Edelman selected it to appear in her 1994 Annual Report of the National Children’s Defense Fund. Congressman Dan Burton, Indiana, requested permission to have the story reprinted and distributed to every educator in his district. It has also been selected for the course packs of the schools of education in several universities including the University of South Florida, UNC-Greensboro, University of Northern Iowa and others.

The Friends of the Library Homecoming Author's Coffee will be held Saturday, November 3rd at 10:30am in the Ethel K. Smith Library. A book signing will follow. Tickets are $5.00 per person. For reservations or more information please contact Luanne Barbee, lbarbee@wingate.edu or 704-233-8093.

2006 – Kevin Winchester

Kevin Winchester lives in Waxhaw, North Carolina. He holds a BA from Wingate University and a MFA in Creative Writing from Queen’s University. In 2005, Mr. Winchester was selected to attend the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference in Vermont. Most recently, his short story, "Shine," was published in Gulf Coast Literary Magazine.

Forthcoming is a creative, non-fiction essay to be published in the January 2007 issue of Tin House Literary Magazine. His past works have appeared in the following: Asheville Literary Review, Main Street Rag’s Short Story Anthology, Everything but the Baby, Southern Hum, and Story South.

The Friends of the Library Homecoming Author's Coffee will be held Saturday, October 28th at 10:30am in the Ethel K. Smith Library. A book signing will follow. Tickets are $5.00 per person. For reservations or more information please contact Luanne Barbee, lbarbee@wingate.edu or 704-233-8093.

2005 – Craig Renfroe

S. Craig Renfroe, Jr.’s poetry chapbook Flirting with Ridicule will be released from Main Street Rag Publishing Company in May 2005. Currently, he teaches writing at Queens University of Charlotte. He received his M.F.A. from UNC-Wilmington where he held a Philip Gerard Fellowship. His short story collection You Should Get That Looked At was published in 2004. His story “Tickle, Me?” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2003. His work has appeared in The MacGuffin, Main Street Rag, One Paycheck Away, Iodine, Thrift, and others.

The Friends of the Library Homecoming Author's Coffee will be held Saturday, October 29th beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the Recital Hall of the Batte Fine Arts Center. The talk will be followed by refreshements and a book signing in the Gallery. Admission is five dollars.

2005 Gallery

2004 – D. G. Martin

Author: Interstate Eateries

For years, D.G. Martin has tempted readers of Our State magazine with stories on where to eat in North Carolina.

"Home cooking," says Martin, "it's a word that warms our tummies and our hearts. To me, home cooking means more than just good food. It means a place that makes you feel comfortable -- like home. Although there are lots of great home-cooking places in North Carolina, they can be mighty hard to find along our interstates. That is why I have traveled up and down our state's highways looking for these places. I am proud to share my findings with you, hoping that you will keep this little guide in your glove compartment so that wherever you travel, you can find home cooking and warm fellowship nearby. So, enjoy your travels and great food along the way."

Martin, who grew up in Davidson, earned a degree in history from Davidson College. After two years in the Army Special Forces, Martin went on to get a degree in law from Yale, returning to practice in Charlotte. He later became a vice president of the University of North Carolina system, and most recently Martin served as the Carolinas Director of the Trust for Public Land and interim executive director of the Triangle Land Conservancy.

Currently, Martin writes a weekly column, One on One, published in about 40 North Carolina newspapers and is the host of the UNC-TV North Carolina Bookwatch series, which airs Sundays at 5 pm. He currently lives in Chapel Hill with his wife, where they enjoy researching great places to eat acros the state.

The 2004 FOL Author’s Morning Coffee and Talk will be Saturday, October 23 at 9:30 a.m. in the Recital Hall of George A. Batte, Jr. Fine Arts Center.

2003 – Dannye Romine Powell

The FOL welcomed Dannye Romine Powell, local poet and columnist for The Charlotte Observer, to participate in the 2003 Homecoming Author’s Morning Coffee and Talk in the Recital Hall of the George A. Batte, Jr. Fine Arts Center.

Dannye Romine Powell is the author of two collections of poems. At Every Wedding Someone Stays Home, which won the University of Arkansas First Book Award in 1994, and The Ecstasy of Regret, a finalist for the Southeastern Booksellers Award. She is also the author of a 1994 book, Parting the Curtains: Interviews with Southern Writers.

Ms. Powell was the host for North Carolina public television’s Poetry Live series in 1995, during which she interviewed a dozen North Carolina poets. In 1997, when Charles Kuralt was host of Poetry Live II, Dannye was a guest on the show.
For 17 years, she served as book editor of The Charlotte Observer. She now writes a regular column for The Observer and also interviews poets and reviews poetry for the book page.
Ms. Powell was warmly received by a wonderful mix of guests. She shared the background an inspiration for several of her poems before reading them to the guests.

From The Bookmark (2003, 2:3)

2002 - Nan Graham, Turn South at the Next Magnolia

For those of you who attended the Saturday morning tea with Nan Graham, you surely witnessed a true southern woman at work. Mrs. Graham's discussion of her book Turn South at the Next Magnolia offered antidotes and stories on her perspectives of growing up and living in the South.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Graham the night before her forum. So it was, that over shrimp and grits, I fell head over heels in love with her rich, smooth Alabama drawl. Even so, I sat the next day completely mesmerized by her intimate, welcoming voice as she told her audience of her mother's advice to NEVER "eat a stranger's chicken salad" or "use roll-on deodorant." Facial expressions evidenced that with her simple yarns, she had successfully resurrected memories of everyone's own mother's somewhat eccentric advice.

Mrs. Graham's tales of Southern folks with comical lives is a celebration of all that is magical and unique to not only Southerners, but to those living in small town America. Somewhere amongst the "pee-khans" rolling around in the "croaker sack," I felt right at home.

Turn South at the Next Magnolia is collection of commentaries which aired on Wilmington, NC's local NPR affiliate, WHQR 91.3.

From The Bookmark (2002, 1:1)

2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002

Updated July 27, 2007