West Virginia University Press is hosting two of its authors for joint book readings and discussions.
Carter Taylor Seaton, author of Hippie Homesteaders: Arts, Crafts, Music, and Living on the Land in West Virginia, and Laura Long, author of Out of Peel Tree, will read from and discuss their work at three locations around Morgantown from June 26 to June 28. This book tour includes events at Arts Monongahela with Morgantown Writers Group, Barnes & Noble, and Tathams Home and Garden & Trellis Caf� in Reedsville.
Carter Taylor Seaton’s Hippie Homesteaders tells the story of the back-to-land movement in West Virginia during the 1960s and 1970s from the viewpoint of 40 artisans and musicians who came to the state, lived on the land, and created successful careers with their craft. Along with these stories, Hippie Homesteaders examines the serendipitous timing of this influx and the community and economic support these crafters received from residents and state agencies in West Virginia.
Paul Salstrom, author of Appalachia’s Path to Dependency, calls Hippie Homesteaders “Outstanding,” while Lee Maynard, author of the Crum trilogy, says, “This book was waiting to be written and perhaps only Carter Taylor Seaton could have written it.”
Carter Taylor Seaton is a ceramic sculptor living in Huntington. She is a 2013 Tamarack Foundation Fellowship winner, an award given to artisans in recognition of their lifelong achievement in the arts.
Laura Long’s Out of Peel Tree is an innovative debut novel that reveals the lives of a far-flung contemporary Appalachian family through a web of delicate turning points. Moving through time and space, it unfolds the patterns of an Appalachian sensibility that reverberate everywhere: a fatalism balanced by humor and flinty, hard-won hope, an appreciation for the surprises of the everyday, and a search for love and home amid strange and familiar places and people.
Out of Peel Tree was recently selected by Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 as a “Book Every Joy-Seeking Woman Should Read.” Daphne Kalotay, award-winning author of Sight Reading and Russian Winter, calls it “an amazing book, alive with the enchantments of language and perception.” Ann Pancake, the author of Strange As This Weather Has Been, calls it “A book of glorious surprises. Vivid, sonorous, and wise.”
Laura Long has received a James Michener Fellowship, James River Writers Award, Donald Barthelme Fellowship, PEN-Texas Award, Virginia Center for Creative Arts fellowships, and has published in magazines including The Southern Review and Shenandoah. She teaches at Lynchburg College in Virginia and is a native of Buckhannon. This is her debut novel.
Schedule of Events:
Morgantown: Thursday, June 26, 7 p.m.
Morgantown Writers Group and WVU Press present Laura Long and Carter Taylor Seaton: An Appalachian Evening of Books, Conversation, Music, and Homesteading at Arts Mon Gallery.
Arts Monongahela: 201 High Street, Morgantown, WV 26501
Live music and refreshments at 6:30pm. Reading starts at 7pm.
Morgantown: Friday, June 27, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Laura Long and Carter Taylor Seaton discuss and autograph their books.
Barnes and Noble: 3000 University Town Centre Drive, Morgantown, WV 26501
Reedsville: Friday, June 27, 5-8 p.m.
Tathams Home and Garden & Trellis Caf� present Burgers & Books: A Book Reading and Discussion with Carter Taylor Seaton and Laura Long
Tathams: 41 South Robert Stone Way, Reedsville, WV 26547
Reservations recommended: 304-864-4333
Morgantown: Saturday, June 28, 12-3 p.m.
Laura Long discusses and autographs her debut novel Out of Peel Tree.
Barnes and Noble, 3000 University Town Centre Drive, Morgantown, WV 26501
To learn more or to purchase these books or any WVU Press title, visit www.wvupress.com or phone (800) 621-2736.
-WVU-
af/6/24/14
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