When Reporting is Personal December 5

7 pm at Scuppernong Books

– Many writers avoid incorporating current events in their work until it is at a safe distance but, in the last few years, a sort of resistance movement has formed, with writers, poets, and artists unapologetically taking on the issues of the day on a sometimes moment-by-moment basis. This is a conversation among poets, non-fiction and fiction writers about responding to the current cultural moment in their practice and in their work.

Moderator

Deonna Kelli Sayed, Author

Deonna Kelli Sayed is an internationally published author, a storyteller, and an award winning podcast producer.  She is an interfaith dialogue instigator and a recovering ghost hunter. Deonna is the author of Paranormal Obsession: America’s Fascination with Ghosts & Hauntings, Spooks and Spirits. Her essays are included in Love, Inshallah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women and Faithfully Feminists: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Feminists on Why We Stay.

Our Panelists

Erika Meitner, Poet

Erika Meitner's Holy Moly, Carry Me was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, a Finalist for the 2019 Library of Virginia Award in Poetry, and the winner of the 2018 National Jewish Book Award in Poetry

“Erika Meitner is the quintessential 21st century storyteller, bearing witness from the vantage point of a social critic with heart, humor, and an incomparable voice. Holy Moly Carry Me is an urgent document of our complex ties with the past, and the dangers of letting histories, private and public, repeat themselves. She reminds us that ‘We are under the care of each other and sometimes we / fail mightily to contain the damage.’ This collection is Meitner at the height of her powers.”  - Carmen Gimenez Smith

Mary Coyne Wessling, Writer

Mary Coyne Wessling has practiced free lance journalism for more than 30 years. She has written on a range of topics but her passion lies in the realm of reporting personal stories. Mary Coyne had the honor of traveling to the middle of Georgia on a hot August weekend to serve as a witness to the brutal conditions our immigrant brothers suffer in the largest U.S. detention center. She has not only written her personal account of this journey but edited other witnesses’ stories of this trip to Lumpkin, GA. Those stories will be available to the public in a book set to be published in the summer of 2020.

Quilla, Singer-Songwriter

Equal parts songwriter, producer, and performer, Quilla is known for her ethereal vocals, mesmerizing skills on the vocal looper, and carefully woven live electronic sets. Originally from Montreal, Canada, she currently resides in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. Her father is French Canadian and her mother is Peruvian, of Spanish and indigenous Quechua and Aymara descent. Her stage name "Quilla" is inspired by the Quechua word for "moon".

 

 

Holy Moly Carry Me By Erika Meitner Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781942683629
Availability: Available - We'll have it for you ASAP!
Published: BOA Editions - September 11th, 2018

Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women By Nura Maznavi (Editor), Ayesha Mattu (Editor) Cover Image
By Nura Maznavi (Editor), Ayesha Mattu (Editor)
$16.95
ISBN: 9781593764289
Availability: Limited Availability - Give us a call, we'll track it down for you!
Published: Soft Skull - February 17th, 2012