Quinn Hawkesworth
A celebration of Lee Smith’s fiction is held Sunday, Feb. 15, at 3 p.m. in the Washington County Public Library, Abingdon, Virginia, as part of the annual Sunday with Friends” literary series.
In a new production, “Lee Smith: Love Your Stories,” a sequel to last year’s “Good Ol’ Girls,” actress Quinn Hawkesworth celebrates Smith’s masterful storytelling by readings from a variety of her stories, accompanied by the music of Eugene Wolf.
In a career spanning more than 50 years, from “The Last Day the Dog Bushes Bloomed” in 1968 to “Silver Fleet” in 2023, through 12 novels and four collections of short stories, Smith has given voice to Appalachian people, especially women, of all ages and backgrounds.
Quinn Hawkesworth came to Abingdon with a professional theater company from North Carolina in a performance of Smith’s “The Devil’s Dream.” She stayed in Abingdon and performed with the Barter Theatre Company for several years.
Providing complementary music to Smith’s words will be Eugene Wolf, a professional actor and musician, known for his performance as A.P. Carter in Barter Theatre’s productions of “Keep on the Sunny Side” as well as his own memory play, “The Book of Mamaw” about his relationship with his grandmother.
The New York Review of Books says that Smith “is nothing less than masterly. She brings to her work an ear for speech and voice that most other writers can only envy.”
There will be book sales at the event. The Sunday with Friends author series is sponsored by the Friends of the Washington County Public Library, a volunteer, non-profit organization whose purpose is to help strengthen the resources of the library and to make it a dynamic force in the community.
