DANNY JOHNSON
Thursday, August 4, 2016, 7:00 pm
From Pushcart Prize nominee Danny Johnson comes The Last Road Home, a powerful, lyrical debut novel that explores race relations, first love, and coming-of-age in North Carolina in the 1950s and '60s. At eight years old, Raeford "Junebug" Hurley has known more than his share of hard lessons. After the sudden death of his parents, he goes to live with his grandparents on a farm surrounded by tobacco fields and lonesome woods. There he meets Fancy Stroud and her twin brother, Lightning, the children of black sharecroppers on a neighboring farm. As years pass, the friendship between Junebug and bright, compassionate Fancy takes on a deeper intensity. Junebug, aware of all the ways in which he and Fancy are more alike than different, habitually bucks against the casual bigotry that surrounds them--dangerous in a community ruled by the Klan.
"This novel is sure to join the rich canon of Southern literature." --Anna Jean Mayhew, author of The Dry Grass of August
Danny Johnson is a member of The North Carolina Writer's Network and served as fiction judge for the Weymouth Center for Arts and Humanities in 2014. His stories have appeared in Fox Chase Review, Remembrances of Wars Past Anthology, South Writ Large, Sheepshead Review, A Southern Journal, The Camel Saloon, and Main Street Rag's Best of Raleigh Reading Series, among others. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in short fiction, his short story "Dancing with My Shadow" was judged by Writer's Digest as one of the 100 best in 2012, and he was a finalist in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest in 2013. Johnson is a Vietnam Veteran and recipient of the USAF Distinguished Flying Cross.
WILLIAM DAVIS
Tuesday, August 9, 7:00 PM
William "Endlesswill" Davis will join us at The Regulator Bookshop with spoken word poetry in celebration of his new collection, Broken Perception. Born in 1987, Endlesswill's 87 count poems in Broken Perception offers readers an assortment of remarkable poems that are as complex and multifaceted as the poet himself. Reflection of the self, renewal of the spirit, and sharp social commentary are among the many striking themes of the compilation of poems bound in Broken Perception.
As written work, Broken Perception offers readers a tangible visual medium through which to enjoy and explore the craft of Endlesswill's poetry. The semantics and symbolism found between the lines of this work will bring readers to the pages again and again.
William "Endlesswill" Davis is a spoken word artist who is dedicated to continuing the tradition of poetry in living form. Founded in a belief that creation and expression is one of the most valuable attributes gifted to humanity, Endlesswill uses writing to examine the spectrum of the human condition from a holistic point of view. Ambitious in his craft and performance, Endlesswill offers audiences unforgettable performances that evoke thought, introspection, and connection as a community.
APS CAT ADOPTION EVENT
Sunday, August 14, 2016 2:00 pm
Durham Animal Protection Society will hold a monthly cat adoption event at the Regulator. Come visit our furry friends from 2:00 - 3:30. Note the time and date.
ZINE WORKSHOP with TRISTAN MILLER (Ages 16 and up)
Sunday, August 21; 2:00PM -- 4:00PM For ages 16 and up. There is a $15 materials fee payable to the instructor. Pre-registration is recommended. To register, email Tristin Miller:
tristin.miller@gmail.com -- Please note the time and fee.
Have you ever wanted to create your own ZINE? Join arts educator Tristan Miller at The Regulator Bookshop for a hands-on Zine Workshop. Learn how to use found materials, daily writings, original drawings, and collaging to design your own zine. $15 for workshop fee and all materials will be provided. Ages 16+
What's a Zine??? A zine (/ˈziːn/ zeen; an abbreviation of fanzine or magazine) is most commonly a small circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images usually reproduced via photocopier.
LIZ McGUFFY
Thursday, August 25 at 7:00PM
Durham resident and Tar Heel native Liz McGuffy will give a talk on Mary Hancock: One of North Carolina's Most Successful Unknown Writers, based on McGuffy's article on Mary Hancock in the latest edition of the North Carolina Literary Review. Mary Hancock lived most of her life in the foothills of North Carolina, and wrote a number of popular historical novels. Her first novel, "Menace on the Mountain," was made into a Walt Disney productions television movie in 1970, with an eight year old actress named Jodie Foster in a supporting role.
CRAIG WERNER
Monday, August 29 at 7:00PM
Explore the music that made Vietnam "the rock 'n' roll war" through the recollections of those who fought the war and survived it. Author Craig Werner will be at The Regulator Bookshop to discuss his new book, We Gotta Get Outta This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War.
Co-authors Bradley and Werner explore how and why U.S. troops turned to music as a way of connecting to each other and the World back home and of coping with the complexities of the war they had been sent to fight. They also demonstrate how music sometimes united and often exposed deep and contentious divisions between soldiers of different racial and regional backgrounds. Many of the voices are those of ordinary soldiers, airmen, seamen, and marines. But there are also "solo" pieces by veterans whose writings have shaped our understanding of the war-Karl Marlantes, Alfredo Vea, Yusef Komunyakaa, Bill Ehrhart, Arthur Flowers-as well as songwriters and performers whose music influenced soldiers' lives, including Eric Burdon, James Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Country Joe McDonald, and John Fogerty. Together their testimony taps into memories-individual and cultural-that capture a central if often overlooked component of the American war in Vietnam.
Craig Werner, a professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, teaches literature, music and cultural history, as well as a course on war with Vietnam War veteran and co-author, Doug Bradley (We Gotta Get Outta This Place). Werner is also the author of Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and the Rise and Fall of American Soul, A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America (revised edition); and Up Around the Bend: An Oral History of Creedence Clearwater Revival, among others. Werner is a member of the Nominating Committee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has won numerous teaching awards.
country," and Carl Hiassen has some cred when it comes to funny. And we can all stand a little more laughter in our lives these days, right? Come on out and let Dave Barry raise your laughter quotient! You'll be oh so happy that you did.
is that it's really good - good, in fact, in just about every way a novel can be good...
