Big Read's writer to be topic of lecture

By: Heidi Freeman | COMPILED BY HEIDI FREEMAN
Published: November 01, 2009

Emily Seelbinder will speak on "Zora Neale Hurston and the Harlem Renaissance" at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Central Library, 660 W. Fifth St. She is a professor of English at Queens University in Charlotte.

Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is the 2009 Big Read selection of the Forsyth County Public Library. When it was published in the 1930s, some critics decried Hurston's use of dialect and lack of explicit references to blacks living in a world controlled by whites. More recently, it has been praised for its depictions of black life, in particular the lives of black women.

In her heyday, Hurston was the most celebrated black woman author in America.

Winston-Salem Writers is sponsoring the talk. For more information, call Robin Chalkley at 595-3817.

Poetry reading set for WFU

Helen Losse will give a reading from her new collection of poetry, Better With Friends, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Room 204 of Reynolds Library at Wake Forest University. Admission is free. For more information, call 758-5214.

Irish poets to read new works

Two Irish poets will read from their new collections at 7 p.m. Thursday in Annenberg Forum of Carswell Hall at Wake Forest University. Eilean NiChuilleanain will read from Selected Poems. Paula Meehan will read from Painting Rain.

A reception will follow. Admission is free. For more information, call 758-5448.

Author, illustrator to sign book

Author Kim Underwood and illustrator Garnet Goldman will sign copies of their new children's book, The Wonderful World of Sparkle Girl & Doobins at 7 p.m. Friday at Chelsee's Coffee Shop & More, 533 N. Trade St. during the First Friday Gallery Hop. Admission is free. For more information, call 703-1503.

Book-signing set for Saturday

Julie Taylor Ebel and two illustrators with whom she has worked will sign copies of their books from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble, 1925 Hampton Inn Court. Admission is free.

Ebel's books include The Picture Man with illustrator Idalia Canter; and Jack Tales and Mountain Yarns: As Told by Orville Hicks, with illustrator Sherry Jenkins Jensen. Her other titles are Dresses, Dreams and Beadwood Leaves, Walking Ribbon and Addie Clawson: Appalachian Mail Carrier. Her books have been praised for preserving overlooked aspects of North Carolina culture.