On Thursday, June 25, 2009, from noon to 1:00 p.m., 2009 South Carolina First Novel Prize Winner Brian Ray will discuss his novel Through the Pale Door at the South Carolina State Library as part of the South Carolina Center for the Book's Speaker @ the Center series.
Ray will also appear at IF ART Gallery at 1223 Lincoln Street in the Vista on Wednesday, June 24 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Books will be available for sale and signing at both events.
Through the First Novel Prize, a program of the S.C. Arts Commission, the Humanities Council SC and the South Carolina State Library, Ray’s first novel, Through the Pale Door, was published by the Hub City Writers Project, an award-winning independent press in Spartanburg. The story is about a young artist who works at her dad's steel mill for one summer following the unexpected death of her mother, all while stumbling through her first romance with a muralist who paints the mill at night.
"The voice is confident and engaging," said Percival Everett, distinguished novelist and final judge of the First Novel competition. "I found myself not only wanting to go where the narrator was taking me, but also wanting merely to hear her speaking."
Through the First Novel Prize, a program of the S.C. Arts Commission, the Humanities Council SC and the South Carolina State Library, Ray’s first novel, Through the Pale Door, was published by the Hub City Writers Project, an award-winning independent press in Spartanburg. The story is about a young artist who works at her dad's steel mill for one summer following the unexpected death of her mother, all while stumbling through her first romance with a muralist who paints the mill at night.
"The voice is confident and engaging," said Percival Everett, distinguished novelist and final judge of the First Novel competition. "I found myself not only wanting to go where the narrator was taking me, but also wanting merely to hear her speaking."
Ray grew up in Marietta, Ga., and now lives in Greensboro, N.C., where he is completing a doctorate in English. He earned his master’s degree in fine arts from the University of South Carolina, where he taught courses in writing and literature. Ray was a 2007 winner of the S.C. Fiction Project and his stories have appeared in Louisiana Review, Green Mountains Review and Storyteller magazine.
Through the Pale Door is available on Amazon.com. For more information about Ray, his work and upcoming events, visit www.brianrayfiction.com.
This lunchtime program is presented by the State Library's South Carolina Center for the Book, the South Carolina affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. The SC Center for the Book is a cooperative project of the State Library, the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science, and The Humanities Council SC. This program is FREE and open to the public. Attendees are welcome to bring a bag lunch. The program is located in Room 309 of the State Library's Administrative Building at 1430 Senate Street.
