Wiley Cash and Catherine Venable Moore presented at the Greensboro Bound Literary Festival this past Friday night. Cash discussed his latest novel, The Last Ballad,” and Moore discussed a book she is writing about the history of the labor movement in West Virginia. Moore’s work is centered around coal miners and mining history in southwestern West Virginia, specifically the Battle of Blair Mountain. She is also investigating how her historically democratic, unionized state came to support Republican candidates in recent years. Laurelyn Dossett played music and led the audience in a ballad, such a great addition to a session about a book entitled, “The Last Ballad”.  Dorsett also sang about the mills closing. Dossett’s song, “Leaving Eden,” is about the closing of the last textile mill in Eden, North Carolina. 

This was one of four sessions at the book festival supported by PEN America as part of their Contemporary Appalachia series. The session was well attended; The Van Dyke Performance Space in the Greensboro Cultural Arts Center was full. While the whole festival was free, some events like Ani DiFranco and Rhiannon Giddens were ticketed, and all tickets were claimed well before the performance date. Mark your calendar for mid-May next year if you like literary festivals. Also, check in with Scuppernong Books as they are Ground Zero for so many of Greensboro’s great literary events.

(Please forgive the low quality cell phone photo, but at least you get a feel for the event).