Novelist Peggy Payne will kick off the 2007-08 Writers Read dinners at EMU.
The language and literature department at EMU will hold its first "Writers Read" program of the new school year Tuesday, Sept. 25.
Peggy Payne, a novelist, journalist and editorial consultant from Raleigh, N.C., will read from her works 5:30 p.m. in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at EMU.
Payne’s research for her travel writing and novels has taken her to more than 25 countries. Her most recent novel, Sister India, is a New York Times Notable Book. She is author of the novel, Revelation (screen rights sold to Synergy Films), and co-author with Allan Luks of The Healing Power of Doing Good. She also wrote a book on a clothing firm, Doncaster: A Legacy of Personal Style.
"My critically acclaimed novels and very different nonfiction books all focus on some aspect of people boldly speaking out, acting on their beliefs, and living in their own vivid and characteristic ways," the author states. "In each of my books, there is a strong current of spirituality, based on the conviction that we must draw on our largest and most profound resources to unfold fully, powerfully, and authentically."
Her articles, reviews and essays have appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Ms. Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Family Circle, Travel+Leisure, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and many others. She offers market-oriented feedback on fiction and nonfiction, in book-length or shorter forms, and consults with writers about career issues, approaching agents and breaking into magazines, based on her more than 30 years of free-lance experience.
A lifelong North Carolina resident, Payne was born in Wilmington. She works with other writers in an office in the historic Oakwood section at the edge of downtown Raleigh.
Admission to the program, which includes dinner, is $14. Reservations are required and should be made by noon Friday, Sept. 21, by calling the language and literature department at 540-432-4168.
A season pass for all four Writers Read programs of the 2007-08 school year is available for $45.