Archives for February 2016

“The Poisoned Table,” by Diane Michael Cantor

Reviewed by Donna Meredith “I was a slave,” a renowned white actress confesses in Diane Michael Cantor’s captivating historical novel, The Poisoned Table (Mercer University Press, 2015). Private lives are far from what others imagine them to be in this story based on the life of nineteenth-century British actress and writer Fanny Kemble. Events take […]

Allen Mendenhall Interviews Derek Furr, Author of “Semitones”

AM: Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions about your new book, Semitones. I want to start by asking about the title. You provide an epigraph by John Dowland that works toward defining “semitones.” Could you explain the significance of this title, which I’m guessing has to do with the unique musicality […]

Claire Hamner Matturro Interviews Celeste Fletcher McHale, Author of “The Secret to Hummingbird Cake”

CHM: The Secret to Hummingbird Cake rings with authenticity. I know you are Southern, so your ability in capturing the charm and culture of Louisiana makes good sense to me. But aside from the setting, the emotions and plot line are so vivid and evocative, I have to ask: Is the story based upon something in your […]

February Read of the Month: “The Secret to Hummingbird Cake,” by Celeste Fletcher McHale

Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro The Secret to Hummingbird Cake (Thomas Nelson, 2016) by emerging Southern author Celeste Fletcher McHale manages to do a very difficult thing: It spins a loving tale about enduring female friendships in a small town in the Deep South without engaging in stereotypes or sentimentality. Replete with the poignancy of […]

Announcing the 2016 North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame Inductees

On Sunday, October 16, at 2:00 pm, the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame will induct three new members. Clyde Edgerton, Margaret Maron, and Carl Sandburg will join the fifty-seven inductees currently enshrined, in a ceremony at the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines. The North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame […]