A North Carolina Life

I grew up in the small town of Asheboro, North Carolina, in a region where both my paternal and maternal families had lived for generations. They were Quakers and Methodists, farmers and preachers, good old boys and bridge-players. From my father's side of the family, I heard stories about boyhood mischief, Indians on the family tree, rheumatic fever, war, death, and sadness; from my mother's side, tales of Annie Oakley, daily train rides, long-buried shrapnel, and love letters that crossed the ocean. I carry inside me a small part of all those people and all those stories.

After high school, I traveled thirty miles north to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where I found a rich writing tradition and community. After graduating, I stayed an extra two years to pursue an MFA degree, during which time I met my husband, Bill Keesler, a journalist who had grown up in Charlotte, when he interviewed me about a play I had written for community theatre. Life and jobs took us to Virginia and then Kentucky, where our son Will was born. A pull toward home eventually brought us back to the little town of Lexington, NC, where we continue to live, with an old cat, two happy dogs, and a door open to whatever critter needs a home.

My writing journey has taken me into many genres—fiction writing, plays, poems, dramatic monologues, essays, and music—but the purpose has remained the same: to tell the story of a people, a region, and a way of life, and to attempt to portray a complex South, rich with history and tradition, but plagued by heartache and frailty. Hopefully in my words, a reader will discover not just the Southern experience but the universal human one that transcends region, dialect, and culture.

Awards:
NC Arts Council Artist Fellowship in Writing, 2001-02, 2007-08
Cleveland State University Poetry Center First Book Prize, 2006
Linda Flowers Prize, NC Humanities Council, 2004
Oscar Arnold Young Award, Poetry Council of NC, 1999
Zoe Kincaid Brockman Award, NC Poetry Society, 1995

Education:
B.A. in English (UNC-Greensboro)
M.F.A. in Creative Writing (UNC-G)
M.A. in English (American Lit), the University of Kentucky

Books:
Piece Work
        (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2007)
Sherry's Prayer
       (NC Humanities Council
       as part of NC Crossroads, 2004)
Los Hijos (Longleaf Press, 2002)
Unravelings (Longleaf Press, 1998
Snake Dreams (Nightshade Press, 1994)