Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 26, 1994 TAG: 9403290001
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
The authors work in history, science fiction, religion and other fields of writing.
Each program will start with a 7:30 p.m. reception for that evening's author in the library's Community Room. The presentation will start at 8 p.m. in the main library, with books by the writer available at the library.
The series is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Library and the library's Endowment Fund which will get proceeds from the programs.
Science fiction writer Rebecca Ore of Patrick County will open the series April 14. She is the author of the ``alien'' trilogy - ``Becoming Alien'' (1988), ``Being Alien'' (1989) and ``Human to Human'' (1990) - as well as ``The Illegal Rebirth of Billy the Kid'' (1981) and ``Alien Bootlegger and Other Stories'' (1993), all published by Tor Books.
Despite their science-fiction backgrounds, a number of the stories are set at least partly in Western Virginia. Her first two were both nominated for the Phil K. Dick Award for Best Paperback Original.
Historian Nancy Scott Anderson, author of ``The Generals: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee'' (Knopf, 1988, and Vintage paperback, 1989), will speak April 21. Her dual biography was a main Book of the Month Club alternate selection and described by the Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer as ``quite simply the best book on the American Civil War that has appeared in many years.''
Anderson lives in Lexington. She has read from her work at the National Archives in Washington, a National Endowment for the Humanities-sponsored symposium in Natchez, Miss., and at universities and Civil War round tables.
James I. Robertson Jr., a Civil War historian who teaches at Virginia Tech and does a weekly Civil War program on Roanoke's WVTF public radio station, is the author for April 28. His popular Civil War course at Tech draws an average of 400 students each semester.
His books include ``General A.P. Hill'' (winner of the Fletcher Platt Award for the best Civil War book of 1987), ``Soldiers Blue and Gray'' (a Pulitzer Prize nominee in 1988), and ``Civil War! America Becomes One Nation`` (winner of the American Library Association's 1993 Best Book for Young Readers Award).
The Rev. Alfred C. Payne, former coordinator of religious affairs at Virginia Tech, will be the May 5 author. The Blacksburg resident has written two devotional books, ``A University at Prayer'' and ``A Community at Prayer.''
A short biography of Payne published in 1993 for the dedication of the Alfred C. Payne Residence Hall at Tech speaks of his working with generations of students during his 32 years on campus and speaking ``with the eloquence of a poet and the clear, firm voice of a minister.''
Novelist and journalist Donald McCaig, author of the popular ``Nop's Trials'' (Crown Books), will read May 12 from its sequel, ``Nop's Hopes,'' to be published by Crown in May. Other books include ``The Butte Polka,'' ``An American Homeplace,'' ``Last Poems,`` and a collection of commentaries presented on National Public Radio's ``All Things Considered'' and articles from magazines titled ``Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men: Searching Through Scotland for a Border Collie'' (Harper Collins).
McCaig lives on a working sheep farm in Highland County.
The final writer May 19 will be Roanoke Times & World-News columnist Monty S. Leitch who will speak on her recently completed history of Christiansburg Presbyterian Church, ``Baptized Into One Body.''
Leitch lives in the Terry's Fork community of Floyd County.
Series tickets are $15 in advance and can be bought from Friends of the Library members, trustees of the library's Endowment Fund, and at the library's circulation desk. Admission to individual events is $3 at the door on a first-come first-served basis.
by CNB