Books Bringing Us Into The Beloved Community

The bookmarks to promote the festival are in. All 10,000 of them!


You may start seeing them around. Don't be scared to pick up a few and hand them out to friends.


The image of the "paper doll chain" made from bandsawed books is intended to reflect the idea that books bring us into community with each other. (Thank you to Steve Workman's bandsaw and talent.)


Yes, booklovers, real books were cut for this... however, they were outdated books slated for destruction that were then saved for a higher purpose: art and the promotion of other works of literature. We hope we have not horrified anyone.


Check your local NC library for a bookmark.

Authors Already Confirmed for 2008

Suzanne Adair, John Alger, Marlin Barton , Tamara Baxter, Danny Bernstein, Sallie Bissell, Jack Buchanan, Gerald Carbone, Judy Carson, Jim Clark, Carol Conrad, Dennis Conrad, Abigail DeWitt, Myrtle Driver, Barbara Duncan, Pamela Duncan, John Ehle, George Ellison, Georgann Eubanks, Tony Grooms, Tom Higgins, Michael Joslin, Catherine Landis, Vicki Lane, Dorianne Laux, Joanne Mauldin, Joe Millar, Karen Miller, Mari Jo Moore, Myra MacPherson, Ron Rash, Rose Senehi, Tim Silver, Peggy Po Stern, Neal Thompson, Barbara Webster, Seabrook Wilkinson, Susan Woodring

The Beloved Community: Theme for the 2008 Festival

The theme for the 2008 Carolina Mountains Literary Festival is "The Beloved Community," a phrase made famous by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as expanded by the distinguished Georgia novelist and short story writer Anthony Grooms. Writers and artists, Grooms believes, can and should play a vital role in advancing understanding, reconciliation and redemption among the nation’s many racial, ethnic and cultural interests.

At last year's festival we examined the American Revolution, which began the process of defining America’s civil rights and freedoms. In 2008 we will focus on the ways the country has been working to broaden that definition to include Native Americans, African Americans, people with other distinctive cultures such as found in Appalachia, women, and immigrants from all nations. This is an ideal which of course remains far from finished and cries out continually for more positive action, especially from the writers and artists whose highest responsibility is to invoke a contemplation of truth in an effort to heal historic trauma and nurture the beloved community.