Lanier Library’s Literary Open Stage (LOS) will be held Thursday, July 20 at 7 p.m. This quarter, the library is pleased to feature local icon, world’s oldest hitchhiker, and Tryon’s Citizen of the Year, Jim Jackson.

Jackson, who can point to the house he was born in 93 years ago as you shuttle him to his regular bridge game, will read from his memoir “My Life in the Brier Patch” and share some of his favorite stories of growing up in Tryon before integration and since.

He has led a rich and varied life as salesman, minister and missionary, and even a stint as an advance man for Rosalyn Carter during the 1975-76 presidential campaign. In a foreword to his memoir, editor Gloria Underwood characterized the man she worked with for many months as “a man of God who chose not to become a Man of the Cloth, but to live an honest and simple life.” A life story told by the man who lived it. You don’t want to miss this.

Literary Open Stage is an evening of short readings by local writers of works in progress. This event is free and open to all. There is always a good crowd of listeners as well as readers, and refreshments will be served.

Aspiring writers toss their names in Sidney’s beret, with10 chosen readers each given 10 minutes of reading time. The featured writer—Jim Jackson, in this case—is given 15 minutes, but with Jim … the timer may be a bit more lenient.

Sign-ups for reading begin at 6:30 p.m., and the readings commence at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 20. The library is located at 72 Chestnut Street in Tryon. Readers as well as writers will find it an entertaining and eclectic evening of literature in the making, with sprinklings of fiction, memoir and poetry on the program. And socializing.

– article submitted by Clare O’Sheel