Category Archives: Literature

An Arkansas Made Tales from the South tonight at Historic Arkansas Museum

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talesfromsouthWith a theme of “Arkansas Made,” where better to find Tales from the South than the home of the “Arkansas Made” exhibits – Historic Arkansas Museum?

The featured storytellers are Haley Villines, Alan Hale, and Denise Parkinson.  Live music is provided by Amy & Brad Williams and bluesman Mark Simpson.

“Tales From the South” is a radio show created and produced by Paula Martin Morell, who is also the show’s host. The show is taped live on Tuesday. The night is a cross between a house concert and a reading/show, with incredible food and great company. Tickets must be purchased before the show, as shows are usually standing-room only.

“Tales from the South” is a showcase of writers reading their own true stories. While the show itself is unrehearsed, the literary memoirs have been worked on for weeks leading up to the readings. Stories range from funny to touching, from everyday occurrences to life-altering tragedies.

Doors open for dinner, socializing at 5 pm; Live music at 6 pm; Dinner available for purchase from Southern Salt Food Truck.  Show starts at 7 pm Tickets $10

You MUST purchase your ticket before the show.

Previous episodes of “Tales from the South” air on KUAR Public Radio on Thursdays at 7pm.  This program will air on November 13.

LR Cultural Touchstone: Garbo Hearne

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garboGarbo Watson Hearne has moved from nurturing patients as a nurse to nurturing artists and art collectors.  As the Director of Pyramid Art, Books & Custom Framing and Hearne Fine Art, she has been cultivating artists and collectors for over 25 years.

In 1988, Garbo left her nursing career to establish Pyramid Gallery.  Over the years, the business has expanded its focus and changed locations.  Since 2010, she has been located in the historic Dunbar neighborhood.   Over the years, she has championed local, regional and national African American artists and authors. She has introduced many emerging artists to established collectors.  Having her as a champion has allowed some artists to be able to take risks and to move into different mediums or styles.

The 2010 move to Dunbar positioned Garbo’s businesses (as well as the medical practice of her physician husband) to be anchors in the newly designated Dunbar Historic Neighborhood.  That neighborhood seeks to maintain its historic structures and return to its roots as a mix of residential and office space.  In 2008, she and her husband, Dr. Archie Hearne, published Collaborations, Two Decades of African American Art: Hearne Fine Art 1988 – 2008.

Hearne has served on the board of directors of the Mid-America Arts Alliance, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, the Arkansas Arts Council (including a term as Chair) and the board of the Arkansas Humanities Council.

Two Literary Prizes to Be Awarded at A Prized Evening – William D. Lindsey and Mara Leveritt will be recognized

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Prized EveningTwo Arkansas authors, William D. Lindsey and Mara Leveritt, will be honored at A Prized Evening, the annual awarding of the Worthen and Porter Literary Prizes, on Thursday, October 16, at 6:30 p.m., in the Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street. A book signing and reception will follow the presentation, which is free and open to the public. Reservations are appreciated, but not required. RSVP to kchagnon@cals.org or 501-918-3033.

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies will award the Booker Worthen Literary Prize to William D. Lindsey, an educator and writer, for the book he edited, Fiat Flux: The Writings of Wilson R. Bachelor, Nineteenth-Century Country Doctor and Philosopher. Lindsey is a Little Rock native who holds a B.A. in English from Loyola University, an M.A. in English from Tulane University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in theology from the University of St. Michael’s College of the Toronto School of Theology. Fiat Flux is the journal of Wilson Bachelor, a country doctor and natural philosopher who chronicled his life from 1870-1902. Bachelor was an avid reader and thoughtful writer, with wide-ranging interests in literature, science, nature, politics, and religion.

Mara Leveritt, a contributing editor to the Arkansas Times, will receive the Porter Fund Literary Prize in recognition of her substantial and impressive body of work. Leveritt has written three nonfiction books about crime and public corruption: The Boys on the Tracks, about murder and prosecutorial corruption in Saline County; Devil’s Knot, about the deeply problematic trials of the teenagers who became known as the West Memphis Three; and Dark Spell, about Jason Baldwin’s West Memphis post-conviction ordeal. A feature film based on Devil’s Knot, starring Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon, premiered in Little Rock on May 3, 2014.

The Worthen Prize was established by the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) in 1999 in memory of William Booker Worthen, a longtime supporter of the public library and a twenty-two-year member of CALS Board of Trustees. It is presented annually for the best work by an author or editor living in the CALS service area. The Porter Fund was established in 1985 by Jack Butler and Phillip McMath in honor of Dr. Ben Drew Kimpel, who requested the prize be named for his mother, Gladys Crane Kimpel Porter.

THE SOUTHERNER’S HANDBOOK, Rebecca Darwin’s look at modern-day life in the South will be discussed at noon today at the Clinton School

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south guideToday at noon at the Clinton School, learn about The Southerner’s Handbook.

Formerly the first female publisher of The New Yorker, Rebecca Darwin is the president and CEO of the media company that owns Garden & Gun. Launched in 2007, the magazine was named the #2 hottest launch of over 700 magazines in 2007, has recently won a National Magazine Award in General Excellence and was named to Advertising Age’s 2011 Magazine A-list.

Darwin is also the former publisher of Mirabella, former marketing director of Fortune, and has served as the president and CEO of the National Association of Female Executives. “The Southerner’s Handbook: A Guide to Living the Good Life” is a collection of instructional and narrative essays that offers a tutorial to modern-day life in the South.

This is presented at the Clinton School in conjunction with P. Allen Smith.

LR Cultural Touchstone: Charlotte Gadberry

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charlotte-gadberryCharlotte Gadberry has long been a supporter of Little Rock’s various cultural institutions. She has both served on boards and consulted with boards in strategic planning.  She is a Cultural Touchstone, however, because of her vision to found ACANSA Arts Festival.

A trip to Charleston, South Carolina, amid it’s Spoleto USA arts festival inspired her to dream that Little Rock could play host to a similar endeavor.  Using her fundraising prowess and connections, she started to raise funds, friends and awareness for this idea.

In September 2013, the inaugural ACANSA Arts Festival was announced for September 2014.  Under her leadership, ACANSA (a name derived from an early Native American variation of what is now called Arkansas) incorporated both local cultural institutions as well as performers brought in for the event.

It kicked off on a Tuesday with a reception at the Governor’s Mansion and concluded the following Sunday with a reception at Wildwood Park for the Arts.  In between there was theatre, dance, mime, puppetry, instrumental music, choral music, opera, jazz, painting, photography, history, lectures, and gallery tours.

Under her leadership as founder, plans are already underway for the next edition.  ACANSA Arts Festival 2015 is scheduled for September 16-20. Tickets go on sale next spring.

Today at Noon, Ed Bethune discusses newest book at Clinton School

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EdBethune-580x323Gay Panic in the Ozarks is the newest book from former Congressman Ed Bethune.  In the novel, the story follows the character of Aubrey Hatfield and the citizens of Campbell County as they get a second chance to grapple with man’s greatest vice – the refusal to see wrong happening and not do something about it.

The life journey of protagonist Aubrey Hatfield contrasts the culture of the turbulent sixties with today’s culture, and ponders how we should adapt to or resist the ever-changing notions of right and wrong. “Gay Panic in the Ozarks” is a novel that examines love, hate, morality, honor, and duty. 

Monday, October 13, 2014 at 12:00 p.m. *Book signing to follow

*Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or calling (501) 683-5239.

LR Cultural Touchstone: Phyllis D. Brandon

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phyllisbrandon_t180Phyllis D. Brandon has played a unique role in shaping and supporting Little Rock’s cultural life.  As the first and longtime editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette‘s High Profile section, she promoted cultural institutions, supporters and practitioners.

Since it started in 1986, being featured in High Profile has been akin to the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.  It exposes cultural institutions and events to new and wider audiences.  There is no way to put a monetary measure on the support Brandon gave to Little Rock’s cultural life during her time leading High Profile from 1986 to 2009.  From 2009 to 2011, she served as editor of Arkansas Life magazine, again supporting and promoting cultural life.

With her unassuming manner, she coaxed stories out of interview subjects and captured photos which highlighted events.  A journalist since her junior high school days in Little Rock, Brandon has also been a witness to history.  As a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas, Brandon returned to her alma mater, Little Rock Central High, to cover the events in early September 1957 for the Arkansas Democrat.  Eleven years later, she was in Chicago for the contentious and violent 1968 Democratic National Convention as a delegate.

From 1957 until 1986, she alternated between careers in journalism and the business world, as well as being a stay-at-home mother.  Upon becoming founding editor of High Profile, she came into her own combining her nose for news and her life-long connections within the Little Rock community.  As a writer and photographer, she created art in her own right. A look through High Profile provides a rich historical snapshot of the changes in Little Rock and Arkansas in the latter part of the 20th Century and start of the 21st Century.

Since retiring in 2011, Brandon has kept a relatively low profile. She can be seen from time to time spending time with friends and family and enjoying attending events. Only this time she generally does not have her trusty camera or notepad.