Books & Reading

Let's Talk About It

Altered Landscapes: North Carolina's Changing Landscapes

The Let’s Talk About It series Altered Landscapes: North Carolina’s Changing World will be held at the Iredell County Public Library beginning on January 23, 2012 at 6:00 PM. Let’s Talk About It is a book discussion series for adults sponsored by the North Carolina Humanities Council, the North Carolina Center for the Book, and the Iredell Friends of the Library.

Participants read five books based on a common theme, and then meet every other week for five weeks to talk about the books. The discussions are led by scholars from North Carolina colleges and universities.

Altered Landscapes: North Carolina’s Changing World examines four novels and one history-based memoir set in North Carolina that were all written between 2003 and 2007 – Salt by Isabel Zuber, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, If You Want Me to Stay by Michael Parker, Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy Tyson, and Plant Life by Pamela Duncan.

The Let’s Talk About It program will begin on January 23, 2012 and will meet at 6:00 pm every other Monday evening through March 19. The programs will be held at the Iredell County Public Library in Statesville, 201 N. Tradd Street.

This program is made possible by a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, in partnership with the North Carolina Center for the Book, a program of the State Library of North Carolina and by the Iredell Friends of the Library.

Please call 704-878-3098 or e-mail to register.

Date & Time	Book	Discussion Leader


Monday, January 23 6 pm-8 pm	Salt by Isabel Zuber	Bruce Dick
Monday, February 6 6 pm-8 pm	Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen	Bruce Dick
Monday, February 20 6 pm-8 pm	If You Want Me to Stay by Michael Parker	Leon Lewis
Monday, March 5 6 pm-8 pm	Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy Tyson	Roxanne Newton
Monday, March 19 6 pm-8 pm	Plant Life by Pamela Duncan	Jill Channing

Bruce Dick

Bruce Dick received his PhD in American Literature in 1988 from Florida State University. A professor of English, he has taught courses in American Literature, African American Literature, World Literature and Film at Appalachian State University since 1989. He has published four books and over 40 interviews with a variety of writers and artists. He is also a documentarian and has produced videos on American youth soccer and Brazilian martial arts.

Leon Lewis

Leon Lewis studied literature at Oberlin College, the University of Pennsylvania and the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has taught at several universities, including the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth, and is currently a Professor of Film and Literature at Appalachian State University. He has written extensively on contemporary American and British literature including a study of Henry Miller (Random House) and many essays on poets including Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Donald Hall and June Jordan.

Roxanne Newton

The daughter and granddaughter of mill workers, Roxanne Newton grew up in a small NC textile town. Currently she is Dean of the Humanities and Fine Arts Division at Mitchell Community College in Statesville where she teaches English, women's studies, and humanities courses. She earned a Ph.D. in Educational Foundations and Cultural Studies and a graduate certificate in Women's and Gender Studies from UNC Greensboro. The recipient of a number of academic and teaching awards, Dr. Newton has developed interdisciplinary courses including "American Women's Studies," "Working Lives: Multicultural Perspectives," and "The Immigrant Experience in America." Her humanities classes have created history quilts and have collected oral histories of immigrants and workers in Iredell County. The NC Women's History Quilt, made by Dr. Newton and her women's studies students, was acquired by the NC Museum of History. She is the author of Women Workers on Strike: Narratives of Southern Women Unionists, published by Routledge in 2007.

Jill Channing

Jill Channing currently teaches English and Women’s Studies at Mitchell Community College in Statesville, NC. Before coming to Mitchell, she taught English at institutions of higher education in New Mexico and Ohio. She earned a BA in English with a minor in Spanish, and an MA in English with concentrations in 20th Century literature, Rhetoric, and Women’s Studies from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring North Carolina, riding her motorcycle, reading and writing about literature, playing various sports, and spending time with Morpheus, her cat.

This project is made possible by a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, in partnership with the North Carolina Center for the Book, a program of the State Library of North Carolina.