Ron Rash, Author of Saints at the River, to Speak Oct. 23
North Carolina author Ron Rash, who wrote Guilford's summer reading selection, Saints at the River, will give a talk Thursday, Oct. 23, at 10 a.m. in Dana Auditorium. The event is primarily for first-year students at the college but is open to the public on a seats-available basis.
Rash is the Parris Distinguished Professor in Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C. In 1994, he published his first book, a collection of short stories titled The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth. Since then, he has published three collections of poetry, three short story collections and four novels. Rash's poems and stories have appeared in more than 100 magazines and journals, and with each new book, he has confirmed his position as a central and significant Appalachian writer.
Rash's novels include One Foot in Eden (2002), Saints at the River (2004), The World Made Straight (2006) and Serena, which was released this month. He received the Novello Literary Award and Appalachian Book of the Year Award for One Foot in Eden and the Weatherford Award and Fiction Book of the Year from the Southern Book Critics Circle and Southeastern Booksellers Association for Saints at the River.
Saints at the River is a novel about a small southern town divided by the aftermath of a tragic accident. It explores some of the deepest human themes: love of the land, the hold of the dead on the living and the need to dive beneath the surface to arrive at a deeper truth.
Rash is a native of Chester Springs, S.C., who grew up in Boiling Springs, N.C.
Oct. 10, 2008