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LOCAL LITERARY EVENT:

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Author Ann Weisgarber Visits Georgetown Public Library - About her Historical Novel of Galveston

The Promise is shortlisted for the United Kingdom’s Walter Scott Prize in Historical Fiction and is a Spur Award finalist in the United States.  She wrote much of the novel in Galveston where pelicans glide along the surf and cows graze in pastures.  Here is how she describes the genesis of the novel:
“When I finished my first novel, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, I signed on to write a monthly article for The Islander, a Galveston-based magazine.  …It was an interview with a brother and sister on the west end of the island that eventually inspired me to write The Promise.  Like many who live along or near the Texas Gulf Coast, I was fascinated by the 1900 Storm, the worst U.S. natural disaster of the 20th Century.  If Galveston’s west end was isolated in 1963, what was it like during 1900?  Did people live there then?  If so, who were they?  Did they survive the storm?  The Promise is my tribute to the women, men, and children who lived down the island on September 8, 1900.”
The Promise has received many glowing critical reviews.  Among them are:
“…. the story is nuanced, psychologically sensitive, detailed and highly visual. … moves at a rhythmic pace that constantly tugs at readers.  The characters, setting and plot synchronize perfectly. …the drama flows naturally from the story’s style …. brims with themes and conflicts that balance and deepen the novel — man vs. nature, the individual vs. society, struggles with honesty, and colliding religious beliefs and moral standards. …This is fiction from a gifted author who knows the territory.” – David Hendricks, San Antonio Express-News
The depth of each character, particularly the two women that make up the focus of the story, is phenomenal.  The author brings the reader right into the fears and motivations of each woman, and it makes for what is easily the best first-person narrative I’ve been fortunate enough to read.  Not only are the characters detailed, but so is the setting.  Weisgarber makes Texas come alive in a way that few authors could.” - Christie Spurlock, San Francisco Book Review
Ann was born and raised in Kettering, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton.  She graduated from Wright State University in Dayton with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work and earned a Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Houston.  She has been a social worker in psychiatric and nursing home facilities, and taught sociology at Wharton County Junior College in Texas.  She now splits her time between Sugar Land, Texas, and Galveston.  She and her husband, Rob, are fans of America’s national parks and visit at least one park a year.
Ann serves on the selection committee for the Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction.  She is currently working on her next novel that takes place in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, during the winter of 1888.
Tickets for the event are $15 in advance and $18 at the door, and may be purchased starting Wednesday, October 1, at the Second-Hand Prose bookstore on the second floor of the library or by contacting Marcy Lowe at 512-868-8974.  A dessert from the Red Poppy CafĂ© in the library will be served with the presentation.  The library is located at 402 W. 8th Street in Georgetown.
If members of your book club would like to attend as a group, we’ll be happy to reserve space for you if you will let us know how many tickets have been purchased.  One of your members should arrive by 1:45, soon after the doors open, to hold your table reservation, so that other attendees do not inadvertently sit there.  If you’d like to reserve seats for your club, please contact Marcy Lowe at the email address or phone shown below.

All proceeds will go toward meeting unfunded requirements of the library.  For FY 2012-13 the Friends of the Library donated over $40,000 to fund unbudgeted needs.

Contact:
Marcy Lowe

512-868-8974

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