Courtesy of The Coalfield Progress
Posted January 16, 2019
The Mountain Empire Community College Foundation, in partnership with the Lonesome Pine Regional Library and the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Project, has announced the 43rd annual John Fox Jr. Literary Festival, featuring a presentation by guest author Ron Rash, will take place Wednesday, March 6 at 10 a.m. in the Goodloe Center of Phillips-Taylor Hall.
In coordination with the festival, the MECC Foundation will host the 32nd annual Lonesome Pine Short Story Contest and the 15th annual Lonesome Pine Poetry Contest. The deadline for submitting entries is Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 4:30 p.m. Entry categories include adult, high school (grades 9 through 12), and middle school (grades 5 through 8) categories. Winners of the contest will be announced during the literary festival.
Ron Rash is a New York Times best-selling author, PEN/Faulkner finalist, two-time winner of the O. Henry Prize, and winner of the James Still Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. A son of Buncombe and Watauga County natives, Rash was raised in Boiling Springs, N.C., and his family has lived in the southern Appalachian mountains since the mid-1700s.
Rash’s love and deep appreciation for the southern Appalachians has launched him into a spectacular literary career. He wrote three collections of poetry and two collections of short stories before transitioning to writing a series of acclaimed and award-winning novels, including The Cove, Above the Waterfall, Nothing Gold Can Stay, Serena, Burning Bright and My Father Like a River.
