The O. Henry Book Sculpture is part of the trio of sculptures dedicated to Greensboro short-story writer, O. Henry (William Sydney Porter). The sculptures are located at the corner of North Elm and Bellemeade Streets. Unfortunately, the statues usually goes unnoticed as adults walk past them en route to work. And, children don’t walk by because they are in school. As evidenced by the above photo, things were different this past weekend during the National Folk Festival. The seven young ladies in the above photo played at the 7′ x 14′ book sculpture, touching and reading it for several minutes. The blonde in the yellow shirt ran around and mimicked the stance of the boy on the right of the book. The youngest, touching the letters as if reading braille said, “Look, I’m reading.” They had so much fun.

The actual location of the statues is U.S. Trust Tower Plaza and the artist who created them was Maria J. Kirby-Smith. They were installed in 1985. In the artist’s works, her goal is to “capture the person’s corporeal and intangible attributes- nuances of character and metaphysical traits” (reference). This was definitely accomplished in the O.Henry statues. And, for three days in September, during the National Folk Festival, we saw people appreciating Ms. Kirby-Smith’s work and O. Henry’s legacy. Surely, there is short story material in this scene.