NC Poet Laureate to Present
NC Poetry Society to Join
Historic Sandburg Celebration
Members of the North Carolina Poetry Society have been invited to join GPS for the
Celebration of Carl Sandburg’s Poetry on Oct. 21 in Flat Rock, N.C., and North Carolina Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer will present her poetry and speak on “Sandburg as Poet” at the historic event.
Connemara, the picturesque lakeside home and goat farm of Sandburg for the last 22 years of his life, will be the setting for a memorable program centering on the life and literary work that won Sandburg two Pulitzer Prizes, one for history and one for poetry.
The Saturday program--a great meeting for spouses, children and friends, as well--will feature a tour of the Sandburg home and the operating goat farm, Sandburg’s poetry recited in the amphitheater by actor Christopher Lynn, a presentation by Poet Laureate Byer, and a picnic/member poetry reading on Sandburg’s beloved Inspiration Rock. Each member of the two state societies may read one poem on the rock where Sandburg wrote and worked. A special guest will be local historian Louise Bailey, age 91, who was Sandburg’s typist in the late 1940s.
Byer, Georgia native, studied at Wesleyan College, Macon, and at UNC-Greensboro with Allen Tate, Robert Watson and Fred Chappell. Her first book of poems, The Girl in the Midst of the Harvest, appeared in 1986 in the Associated Writing Programs Award Series. Wildwood Flower (1992) won the Lamont Poetry Prize of the Academy of American Poets. Black Shawl, her third, was selected for both the Roanoke-Chowan Award and the Brockman-Campbell Award. Catching Ligh t (2002) was nominated for the L.A. Times Book Award in Poetry and won the SEBA Best Book of the Year in Poetry. She will read from her newest (2006) volume, Coming to Rest. Her work has appeared (or will appear) in Georgia Review of Poetry, Carolina Quarterly, Atlantic Monthly, Cortland Review and Crab Orchard Review. She lives in Cullowhee, NC with her husband and their four dogs.
Lynn recently moved with his family from New York City to Asheville. He has performed in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Phantom of the Opera”, TV’s “One Life to Live”, frequently at Flat Rock Playhouse, the state theatre of North Carolina, at PlayMakers Rep in Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Theatre in Raleigh.
Flat Rock is approximately three hours drive from downtown Atlanta and is 30 miles north of Greenville, S.C. Members are urged to arrange car pools to this unique meeting.
Because of the fall foliage season, overnight reservations are urgent for those wanting to stay over Friday and/or Saturday in Flat Rock or nearby Hendersonville, N.C.
Hendersonville/Flat Rock motels include: Highland Lake Inn, $129 to $249, 800-762-1376; Holiday Inn Express, $107, 828-698-8899; Day’s Inn, $93, 828-697-5899; and Red Roof Inn, $99, 828-697-1223. For a listing of 78 motels and B & Bs in the area, visit www.historichendersonville.org or phone 1-800-828-4244.
For more information contact Bob Lynn, 770-876-2904, rllynn@adelphia.net or Sandburg home: 1-828-693-4178; www.nps.gov/carl
Box lunches ($10 each) and guided tour tickets of home ($5 each) should be reserved and paid by Oct. 17 to VP Clela Reed, 185 Red Fox Run, Athens, GA 30605. Phone: 706-546-9554. cleelareed@charter.net