Join the Friends of RCPL and the University of South Carolina Institute for Southern Studies for the Southern Writers Series that features several of the South’s best authors. All events will be held at RCPL’s Main Library and are free and open to the public.

Daniel Wallace
6 p.m., Monday, January 25

Writer and illustrator Daniel Wallace writes about mythological happenings in the American South. Wallace is best known for his 1998 novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, that was later made into a movie by Tim Burton. Other books include Ray in Reverse and The Watermelon King: A Novel. He is currently a professor and lecturer in the English Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Visit www.danielwallace.org for more information. 
 

Brian Ray
6 p.m., Monday, February 8

South Carolina First Novel Prize winner Brian Ray is best known as author of Through the Pale Door (2009). Originally from Georgia, Ray studied creative writing at the University of South Carolina at Columbia. Ray now lives in Greensboro, N.C. Visit www.brianrayfiction.com for more information.

Percival Everett
6 p.m., Wednesday, February 24

Author Percival Everett has won numerous awards for his wide variety of writing, ranging from his western novel, Wounded (2005), to a satire of the publishing industry, Erasure (2001). A few of his other books include Zulus (1990), American Desert (2004) and, most recently,  I Am Not Sidney Poitier (2009). Everett grew up in Columbia and graduated from A.C. Flora High School. He currently teaches at the University of Southern California. Visit www.usc.edu for more information.


Pamela Duncan
6 p.m., Thursday, March 18

Pamela Duncan has written three novels, The Big Beautiful (2007), Plant Life (2003) and Moon Women (2001). Plant Life, a novel about several generations of Carolina textile workers, was the 2003 Sir Walter Raleigh Fiction Award winner. Duncan lives and teaches in Cullowhee, N.C. Visit www.pameladuncan.com for more information.

Robert Inman
6 p.m., Thursday, April 1

Robert Inman is the author of several plays, musicals and television screenplays including Home Fires Burning (1987), Old Dogs and Children (1991) and The Christmas Bus (2006). Raised in Alabama, Inman is a retired journalist who lives and writes in Charlotte and Boone, N.C. Visit www.robert-inman.com for more information.


Margaret Maron
6 p.m., Thursday, April 15

Margaret Maron is the author of 26 novels, including both the acclaimed Deborah Knott and Sigrid Harald mystery series. Her most recent novels are Death’s Half Acre (2008) and Sand Sharks (2009). Maron has received multiple awards for her work, including the Edgar Allen Poe Award, Agatha Award and the North Carolina Award for Literature. Several of her novels have been Mystery Guild Main Selections and her work has been translated in 16 languages. Visit www.margaretmaron.com for more information.