The public is invited to spend an evening with mountain storyteller Gary Carden at Isothermal Community College’s Polk Campus in Columbus Tuesday, Sept. 6 from 7 – 9 p.m.
The award-winning author and playwright will take his audience back to the small mountain town of Sylva, N.C., as it was in the 1940s.
As a child, Carden awoke each morning to the mournful wail of the tannery whistle, a long “WOOOOOOOOO” that lingered in the coves and hollers of Jackson County for several moments.
Unlike most of Carden’s plays, the tales he will tell are largely autobiographical. Born, raised and educated in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, Carden describes some of the noteworthy events and characters of his youth, including how he worried his grandparents, who raised him, by entertaining himself preaching to the chickens and acting out stories.
Meet the man of whom New York Times bestselling author Ron Rash says, “Gary Carden is one of Appalachia’s greatest treasures. No one I know understands the culture better; add to this Carden’s storytelling ability and you have an artist of the first order.”
Those who arrive early, from 6:30 p.m, will be treated to video clips of two of Carden’s  one-man plays, “The Prince of Dark Corners” and “Nance Dude.”
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 828-894-3092.
– article submitted by Kate Barkschat