From the Pamlico Writers Group

Local girl made good, and now she’s back … at least for a weekend. Sharyn McCrumb is an award-winning Southern writer, best known for her Appalachian ballad novels. She will be the keynote speaker at the fourth annual Pamlico Writers Conference. But you don’t have to be a writer or registered for the conference to attend her address at the Turnage Theatre on March 18 at 7 p.m.

Born in eastern North Carolina, McCrumb also has roots in our mountains. She challenges the stereotyping of rural areas, bringing her events and characters into a world every reader can find relevant, relatable and believable.

Her ballad novels are based on real people and events that have been memorialized in song before finding their place on the New York Times Best Seller list. Novels such as “The Ballad of Tom Dooley,” “She Walks These Hills,” “The Rosewood Casket,” “The Ballad of Frankie Silver,” and “King’s Mountain” are only a few of the titles that have been translated into 11 languages and studied in universities throughout the world. Her newest novel, “Prayers the Devil Answers,” published by Simon & Schuster, will be released in May.

McCrumb attended UNC-Chapel Hill for her B.A. and received an M.A. from Virginia Tech.  She now resides in Virginia. She has lectured on her work at Oxford University, the University of Bonn-Germany and at the Smithsonian Institution. She has also taught a writers’ workshop in Paris and served as writer-in-residence at King College in Tennessee and at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York. Her list of awards would fill another article.

A reception in the theatre gallery begins at 6 p.m. on March 18. At the same time, there is an opportunity for writers to meet one-on-one with a publisher to pitch their books. Following her talk at 7 p.m., McCrumb will be signing books in the foyer while an open mic performance takes place in the theatre. The public is invited. There is a charge of $10 for the Friday evening event.

The Pamlico Writers Conference will continue on Saturday, March 19, with sessions led by writers, publishers and educators. For more information, go to www.pamlicowritersconference.org or pick up a flyer at the Turnage Theatre.