Julie Zickefoose speaks at the library in Abingdon.
Sunday with Friends hosts two speakers during March – Quinn Hawkesworth and Julie Zickefoose at the Washington County Public Library, Abingdon, Virginia.
Hawkesworth performs her one-woman show, “Fred Chappell: The Man Who Came to Dinner” March 1 at 3 p.m.
The show includes selections from the North Carolina poet and novelist. Chappell taught creative writing at UNC-Greensboro for 40 years, and for many years was the North Carolina poet laureate. The author of over a dozen books of poetry, a handful of novels and short story collections, and two books of critical prose, Chappell has received numerous awards for his work, including the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Bollingen Award, the Aiken Taylor Award, an award from the National Academy of Arts and Letters, and the best foreign book prize from the Academie Française.
Hawkesworth says that she hopes to “offer a tempting, tantalizing selection from the best author you’ve never heard of . . . gimlet-eyed taste, yet merciless critic, scathingly funny raconteur, nonpareil creator of memorable characters.”
Her other one-woman shows include portraying Ivy Rowe in an adaptation of Lee Smith’s “Fair and Tender Ladies,” Charlotte Bronte in “Mistress of the Moors” and Emily Dickinson in “The Belle of Amherst.”
Zickefoose, author of “Saving Jemima” Life and Love with a Hard Luck Jay,” speaks March 29 at 3 p.m.
Zickefoose is an acclaimed nature writer, wildlife rehabilitator and illustrator. Her new book is about a young orphaned blue jay who was brought to Zickefoose. Starved and sick, the jay thrives under her care, eventually taking over the house and the rest of the author’s summer, as she gains strength to be released into the wild. The book is filled with wonder, humor and relentless curiosity.
The programs, sponsored by the Friends of the Library, are free and open to the public.
