{"id":45412,"date":"2021-09-05T07:01:56","date_gmt":"2021-09-05T11:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/?p=45412"},"modified":"2021-09-05T07:01:56","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T11:01:56","slug":"my-story-four-great-wnc-memoirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/my-story-four-great-wnc-memoirs\/","title":{"rendered":"My Story: Four Great WNC Memoirs<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Lecture Series Begins September 9<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

By Gina Malone<\/p>\n

The Wilma Dykeman Legacy (WDL) continues its annual lecture and book discussion series with four memoirs by Western North Carolina writers. Events begin in September and run through December. This year\u2019s series, titled My Story: Four Great WNC Memoirs<\/em>, will feature autobiographies by Wilma Dykeman, Walter Ziffer, Nina Simone and Mary Judith Messer.<\/p>\n

Lectures will be held at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month, with book discussions at 7 p.m. on the following Wednesdays. All events are free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

The series begins on Thursday, September 9, with WDL president Jim Stokely presenting his mother\u2019s memoir, Family of Earth: A Southern Mountain Childhood<\/em>, written when Dykeman was young and discovered and published after her death in 2006. It tells of her childhood in Asheville\u2019s Beaverdam Valley region. The book discussion will be held Wednesday, September 15.<\/p>\n

The following month, Ziffer, a retired engineer, minister and professor, will present a talk on his memoir titled Confronting the Silence: A Holocaust Survivor\u2019s Search for God<\/em>. \u201cBeing an academic has made it relatively easy to speak about the Holocaust despite the fact of having personally been sucked into the maelstrom of destruction,\u201d Ziffer says. His presentations and writings, however, don\u2019t provide anything near closure. \u201cThe horrific, personally lived events are still with me and very much alive, and what happened to 14 of my family members who were murdered remains a reminiscence I forcibly shut out from my mind as best as possible,\u201d he says. Ziffer believes that his book and talk will be timely, given \u201cthe vulnerability of our democracy\u201d today. His presentation will be held October 14, with a book discussion on October 20.<\/p>\n

On November 11, Dr. Warren J. Carson, retired professor of English and director of the gospel choir at the University of South Carolina Upstate, presents a lecture on Simone\u2019s autobiography, I Put a Spell on You<\/em>. \u201cI am a native of Tryon\u2019s Eastside community, the same community that birthed and nurtured Simone in her early years, although she was about 20 years my senior,\u201d says Carson. Simone, born Eunice Waymon, remains an influential figure among young artists 18 years after her death. Carson knew her family and was friends with her youngest sister though he did not meet Simone until he was in college. \u201cSimone\u2019s story is like most stories that track the journey from humble beginnings to greatness,\u201d he says. \u201cHers is different in that it is complicated by race, gender and health issues, and Simone\u2019s fight against those things without compromising her artistry.\u201d Carson, whose academic background is in African American literature and culture, hopes \u201cto provide additional context and clarification that will make her life story more realistic, less mythological.\u201d The book discussion will be held November 17.<\/p>\n

The series concludes with a talk on December 9 by Messer on her memoir Moonshiner\u2019s Daughter<\/em>, which tells of her \u201cdirt poor\u201d and painful upbringing in the Great Smoky Mountains during the 1940s and 1950s. The book discussion will be held on December 15.<\/p>\n

To learn more about this and other events sponsored by the Wilma Dykeman Legacy, or to become a member, visit WilmaDykemanLegacy.org<\/a>. Register for the series at mystory@wilmadykemanlegacy.org<\/a>. Upon registration, details will be provided as to whether the events will be held in person or via Zoom.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Wilma Dykeman Legacy (WDL) continues its annual lecture and book discussion series with four memoirs by Western North Carolina writers. Events begin in September and run through December. This year\u2019s series, titled My Story: Four Great WNC Memoirs, will feature autobiographies by Wilma Dykeman, Walter Ziffer, Nina Simone and Mary Judith Messer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":45414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-literature"],"yoast_head":"\nMy Story: Four Great WNC Memoirs - The Laurel of Asheville<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Wilma Dykeman Legacy (WDL) continues its annual lecture and book discussion series with four memoirs by Western North Carolina writers. 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