Janisse Ray,award-winning author, among 6 at featured Statesboro: The Write Place festival, Nov 1-3

Oct. 14, 2012 - PRLog -- Janisse Ray, environmentalist and New York Times best-selling author, is one of six featured authors at Statesboro: The Write Place, the largest writing festival in southeast Georgia.  The three-day festival, which celebrates the region’s best known and emerging authors, begins with a reading by the featured authors on Thursday, November 1, at 7:00 P.M. at Statesboro’s Emma Kelly Theater in the Averitt Center for the Arts.   Other festival events include an “Open Mic” reading for writers on Friday evening and three writers’ workshops on Saturday, also featuring Janisse Ray.  All events are free and open to the public.  More details are on the Facebook page Statesboro The Write Place (http://www.facebook.com/StatesboroTheWritePlace) .

Janisse Ray, best known for her acclaimed Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, will be reading from The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food. It’s the story of individual and groups waging a lush and quiet revolution to preserve America’s traditional cornucopia of food.  The book has been profiled in The Atlanta Journal Constitution, and Publisher’s Weekly calls it, “intimate, poetically conversational.”

Stephanie Tames, whose father photographed presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to George H.W. Bush for The New York Times, will share stories from her upcoming memoir about George Tames’ life and work.

David Dudley will read from his novel, Caleb’s War, an acclaimed coming-of-age story about growing up black on the World War II home front in segregated Georgia.  

Award-winning poet Emma Bolden will read from her three published collections, including  How to Recognize a Lady, and from her newest work.

Jared Sexton, whose fiction has been published in a variety of national magazines, will offer work from his new short story collection, An End to All Things.

Laura Valeri, praised by Booklist for her “fearless display of raw emotion,” will read from her award-winning collection of short stories, The Kind of Things Saints Do, and from her forthcoming collection, Safe in Your Head.

The “Open Mic” Coffeehouse Reading will take place Friday, November 2, 7 P.M. at the Georgia Southern University City Campus, in downtown Statesboro, hosted by the Georgia Southern University Department of Writing and Linguistics.  Everyone is invited to participate by reading their original prose or poetry or work by a favorite author.  

On Saturday, November 3, there will be three writing workshops open to writers of all levels.  Janisse Ray will lead a memoir-writing program at 8:30 A.M. at the Statesboro Public Library.   Sarah Domet, noted author of 90 Days to Your Novel will lead a step-by-step guide at 10 A.M. at The Statesboro Inn.  Mary Ann Anderson, award-winning travel writer, will facilitate a session on working as a professional at 11:30 at the Statesboro Inn.  Although the workshops are free, space is limited. Reservations are required and can be made by calling the Statesboro Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800-568-3301 or 912-489-1869 or emailing editor@statesboromagazine.com.

Statesboro: The Write Place is a joint event of the Georgia Southern University Department of Writing and Linguistics, Statesboro Magazine, the Averitt Center for the Arts and the Statesboro Convention and Visitors Bureau.  Contributing sponsors include the Downtown Statesboro Development Authority, Books-A-Million, the Statesboro Holiday Inn, the Statesboro-Bulloch County Friends of the Library, the Statesboro Comfort Inn and The Lilly Group.

About Georgia Southern University: Georgia Southern University, a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University founded in 1906, offers more than 120 degree programs serving more than 20,000 students. The Department of Writing and Linguistics is the only degree-conferring free-standing writing department in the state of Georgia and one of only a handful in the nation.   Visit: http://class.georgiasouthern.edu/writling/.

About the Statesboro Convention and Visitors Bureau: The Statesboro Convention & Visitors Bureau provides information about entertainment, hospitality, shopping, and events in the region as well as meeting and convention services.  Visit: http://www.visitstatesboroga.com.

About Statesboro Magazine: Published bi-monthly, Statesboro Magazine highlights the people, places, and events in the greater Statesboro area through local stories that often blend the history of the area into profiles of the dynamic people who make up the community today. It is produced by Morris MultiMedia Inc. Visit http://www.statesboromagazine.com/