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Get to Know North Carolina Author Sharyn McCrumb at the Library on Thursday

Sharyn McCrumb, NY Times best-selling author, presents from her latest novel, Prayers the Devil Answers, at the meeting of High Country Writers, Thursday, June 9th at 10 a.m. at the Watauga County Library. The public is invited.

Sharyn McCrumb’s latest novel tells the story of a woman who discovers that sometimes you get what you pray for, but you end up wishing the answer had been “no.” When the newly elected sheriff dies of a fever, he leaves a widow and a young son on their own. In 1936, the small Appalachian town offers few opportunities for a woman not willing to accept charity, so she takes the only job available—that of sheriff. With capable deputies, and the somewhat wary support of the townspeople, it seems a practical solution, until Ellie Robbins is faced with the one responsibility that must be performed by the sheriff personally – that of executing a condemned murderer. Prayers the Devil Answers is rich with the same masterful attention to historical detail and evoking of mountain folklore that readers find so compelling in her Ballad novels.

Best known for her Ballad novels, Sharyn McCrumb has been named a “Virginia Woman of History” for Achievement in Literature; she was a guest author at the National Festival of the Book in Washington, D.C.; she has lectured on her work at universities and museums throughout the US, as well as at Oxford University, the University of Bonn-Germany, and at the Smithsonian Institution. Ms. McCrumb taught a writers workshop in Paris, and has served as writer in residence at King College in Tennessee and at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York. High Country Writers are proud to welcome her back among us.

High Country Writers has been “energizing writers since 1995!” Regular meetings are at the Watauga County Public Library on the second and fourth Thursdays of most months from ten until noon and speakers’ presentations are co-sponsored with the Library. HCW members present writing skills workshops the first Thursday of the month, and have recently partnered with the Watauga County Arts Council in hosting these workshops. For more information and a current calendar, visit the website: http://highcountrywriters.tripod.com/. Guests are welcome.