The Fayette County Public Library invites the public to attend a free writing workshop titled “Telling the Truth with Story: Writing Fact and Fiction,” Tuesday, Sept. 15 7-8:30 p.m.
Led by award-winning Georgia author Doug Crandell, the hands-on creative learning session is open to adults and high school students.
This free workshop is offered as part of this year’s “Fayette on the Page: One Book, One Community” programming. For the eighth year running, librarians have selected a book for all Fayette County residents to read, and planned public events to enrich and supplement the reading experience. The 2015 selection is “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, a fictional work inspired by the author’s experiences as a soldier in the Vietnam War.
“O’Brien invites the reader to explore the frontier between fact and fiction, which for him is an area with flexible boundaries,” said Sarah Trowbridge, a public services librarian at Fayette County Public Library. “We thought it would be interesting for the up-and-coming writers in the community to get a chance to play with fact vs. fiction in their own work.”
Although “Telling the Truth with Story” occurs in conjunction with the community reading of “The Things They Carried,” it is not necessary to have read the book in order to benefit from the workshop. Workshop facilitator Doug Crandell will encourage participants to mine their memories and life experiences for transformation into original stories, and lead them in writing exercises that explore the borderline between fact and fiction.
Crandell, who lives near Douglasville, is the author of four novels, two memoirs, and a true-crime account. His 2007 memoir, “The All-American Industrial Motel,” chronicling a pivotal year of his youth in Indiana, earned him a Georgia Author of the Year Award. Crandell is well accustomed to training his gaze on the past, filtering it through the lens of the present, and bringing something new to life for the reader in the process.
All “Fayette on the Page” activities are free and open to the public, made possible through the generous support of the Friends of the Fayette County Public Library. Copies of “The Things They Carried” are available for checkout to PINES library card holders at the Fayette County Public Library. Any Georgia resident who does not already have a PINES card can receive one on the spot by showing proof of current address and filling out a brief application.
The Fayette County Public Library is located behind the Fayette County administration complex in downtown Fayetteville, at the southwest corner of Hwys. 85 and 54. For more information about “Fayette on the Page: One Book, One Community,” contact the library at 770-461-8841 or visit www.fayettecountyga.gov/public_library.
