Local author Frances VanLandingham recently worked with friends, neighbors, and other area writers to compile a special book of poems and short stories about her beloved Elk River.
“It is a collection of works by several different authors from Carter, Washington and Johnson counties,” VanLandingham said.
Voices of Elk River is a collection of poetry and stories by people who love the Elk River. It is also the sixth book of regional stories and memories which VanLandingham has published, with her first being a memoir and the remaining books compilations of her own work and the works of others.
“As I step out onto my back porch I am greeted by the sight and sounds of water running over rocks as Elk River makes its way through my yard,” VanLandingham writes in the book’s introduction. “This beautiful little river is born high in the North Carolina mountains where pure, cold water gushes forth from rocks and races down the mountains. It seems to run and play and frolic as a young child or animal might do, just happy to be here.”
All in all, a total of 34 writers and photographers lent their talent to creating Voices of Elk River. The stories and poems contained between its covers transport the reader to the banks of the river as the sights and sounds come alive through words.
A special book signing and release party has been scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library. VanLandingham will be at the event to sign copies of Voices of Elk River, which will be available for purchase. She will be joined by some of the other authors who contributed to the book.
VanLandingham’s other works include:
• Back on Nowhere Road is a memoir describing life in the Appalachian Mountains during the Great Depression. It takes the reader on a journey with the author from the mountains to the nation’s capitol, the Mississippi Delta, northwest Georgia, and finally back home to the mountains of Northeast Tennessee.
• Puttin’ Up Vittles on Nowhere Road is all about food. It has old-fashioned recipes, methods of growing and preserving food and stories of life in the Appalachian Mountains during the 1930s and ’40s.
• Mountain Women: Steel and Velvet is a collection of stories about women who lived in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The stories, written by family members, describe both the courage and strength of these women and the great tenderness and love they showed to others.
To order Voices of Elk River or any of VanLandingham’s other works, contact Frances VanLandingham by phone at 423-768-2261.