Anthony Abbott

     Anthony S. Abbott is the author of two novels and six books of poetry, including the Pulitzer nominated The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat. His awards include the Novello Literary Award for Leaving Maggie Hope (2003), and the Oscar Arnold Young Award for The Man Who (2005).
     A native of San Francisco, Abbott was educated at the Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts and Kent School in Kent, Connecticut. He received his A.B. from Princeton University, and his A.M. and Ph.D from Harvard University. He is the Charles A. Dana Professor Emeritus of English at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, where he lives with his wife Susan.
     Dr. Abbott's topic is "Poetry and the Secrets of the Heart."

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Registration at door $25.00
(Credit cards not accepted)
Students $5 (need not register in advance)
Pre-register below for discount or mail check to
ACWC - 2012 Conference, P.O. Box 363,
Wadesboro, N.C., 28170

Registration Fee

Advance (1) $20.00 USD Advance (2) $40.00 USD Advance (3) $60.00 USD Advance (4) $80.00 USD Advance (50 $100.00 USD

You may order a box lunch for $8.00 online or send a check with your preference to Anson County Writers Club - 2012 Conference, P.O.Box 363, Wadesboro, NC, 28170. Lunches include grilled chicken with lettuce, tomato, pickles and chips or barbecue sandwich with coleslaw and chips; cake; choice of sweet or unsweet tea, lemonade or water. Those with special dietary needs should remember to bring a lunch if they wish to enjoy lunch conversation with the authors. (If ordering more than one lunch, you may edit the amount in the shopping cart.)

Lunch

Pork Barbecue Grilled Chicken

Choose this option ONLY if you are submitting poems for critique. Dr. Abbott requests that each participant submit two poems (no more or less) prior to the conference. These may be e-mailed to info@ansoncountywritersclub.org or mailed to: ACWC - Poetry Workshop, P.O. Box 363, Wadesboro, N.C., 28170. The critique offer will close March 25 or when sufficient entries have been received; however the workshop is open to all.

Workshop

Workshop

Margaret Maron

     Margaret Maron is the author of twenty-six novels and two collections of short stories. Winner of several major American awards for mysteries (Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, Macavity), her works are on the reading lists of various courses in contemporary Southern literature and have been translated into 16 languages. She has served as president of Sisters in Crime, the American Crime Writers League, and Mystery Writers of America.
     A native Tar Heel, she still lives on her family's century farm a few miles southeast of Raleigh, the setting for Bootlegger's Daughter, which is numbered among the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century as selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. In 2004, she received the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for best North Carolina novel of the year. In 2008, she was honored with the North Carolina Award for Literature. (The North Carolina Award is the state’s highest civilian honor.)
     "Coming Home With the Bootlegger's Daughter"
Mrs. Maron will discuss how she brought her writing home to North Carolina after writing eight books and numerous short stories set in New York City where she lived for several years. She was under the impression that crime novels had to be set in a large urban locale and has been delighted to learn that readers in large urban locales find the tobacco fields of eastern North Carolina as exotic as those large cities have seemed to her.
For more information, visit www.margaretmaron.com .

Gary Carden
Featured storyteller
“Preaching to the Chickens”

     “I told my first stories to my grandfather’s chickens in a dark chicken-house when I was six years old. My audience wasn’t attentive and tended to get hysterical during the dramatic parts.”
     Raised by his grandparents, Gary Carden grew up listening to Appalachian and Cherokee folktales. A graduate of Western Carolina University, he taught English and drama there for 15 years and spent the next 15 years working for the Cherokee tribal government. He became a full-time storyteller in 1984. Carden has written books and plays that also in audio and video formats.

Cynthia Moore Brown
“Folktales & Ghost Stories of Piedmont N.C”

     Cynthia Moore Brown has been an acclaimed performer and educator for over three decades in North Carolina, the South, and Europe. She is the star of stage, television, &radio. Her stories are frequently on NPR WFDD. She retired after 30 years of being a librarian, then a K-5 Art Specialist and now uses her many talents to bring texture to her down home Southern style. She is co-founder of the NC Storytelling Guild and a festival organizer.

Ramona Moore Big Eagle

     Ramona Moore Big Eagle travels throughout the United States and Canada as a Motivational Speaker, Cultural Educator, Consultant, Workshop Facilitator and Storyteller.  Her workshops and programs of American Indian culture and history delivered through the art of Storytelling, authentic artifacts, music, drumming, dance, and crafts have been educating and empowering audiences of all ages since 1976.

Dorothy Morrison

     My story, "Short'nin' Bread," addresses the pains and pleasures of cotton mill life and race relations in Statesville, North Carolina in the 1950's. This performance highlights the rich musical heritage of this region, including country, blue grass and African-American spirituals. My nephew Ray Morrison, is my accompanist, and demonstrates his skill on the guitar, banjo, mandolin and harmonica, a tradition passed down in our family for generations. The Morrison family story transports the audience from the small and sad struggles of the day to the great and glad celebration of Southern life.
     Ray Morrison is local musican residing in the Charlotte area. He provides vocals and mandolin for the Charlotte-based band, "The Masonboro Boys." The band's first full-length album, "Steady on a Tight Wire," was completed in the Fall of 2008.

Lockhart-Taylor Center in Wadesboro