PRESENTERS SIGNED ON TO DATE: (Please check our website for updates)

Gloria Houston, author and promoter of mountain culture, returns to the NC Experience with a fine new edition of Littlejim. Attendees will also be delighted to discover The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree is now available on CD as well as in print. Bright Freedom’s Song is also available.

Karen Lee, author and illustrator, creates delightful non-fiction. Her new book .....My Half Day....complements her two previously released and highly acclaimed books about numbers, One Odd Day and My Even Day. ABC Safari will delight word enthusiasts and very young readers. Karen’s whimsical illustrations have also appeared on the cover of Highlights magazine.

Carol Crane, author of the popular T is for Tarheel, a North Carolina Alphabet Book, has also published Wright Numbers: North Carolina Number Book. She is the author of P is for Pilgrim, A Thanksgiving Alphabet Book, P is for Palmetto, D is for Dragon and several other alphabet books. She has 35 years of experience in children’s literature.

Kathleen Ernst, who lives in Middleton, Wisconsin, chose two North Carolina settings for her middle grade novels. Both have a uniquely Scottish flavor. Highland Fling is a contemporary novel that revolves around the Highland Games. Betrayal at Cross Creek, a historical novel set in the present-day Fayetteville area during the Revolutionary War period, gives a Loyalist perspective to the Battle of Moores Creek. Thanks for making the trip, Kathleen.

Emily Smith Pearce, author of Isabel and the Miracle Baby, has an uncanny knack for capturing the independent/dependent feelings of a young grade school child. Isabel’s mother is not only a cancer-survivor but is also caring for her new miracle baby, leaving Isabel to deal with loneliness and fear.

Anne Runyon, known primarily as an illustrator, won kudos for her 2007 book The Sheltering Cedar, a story set on Ocracoke Isalnd during the Christmas season. Anne illustrated The Mountain Fishes of North Carolina and North Carolina Wild Places: A Closer Look.

Kevin Duffus is an historian, author and videographer. Blackbeard fans will relish his new book The Last Days of Blackbeard the Pirate. Another new publication, Shipwrecks of the Outer Banks, covers four hundred years of history and locates the remains of numerous wrecks. Duffus has also created DVDs focusing on the Outer Banks including: War Zone: World War II Off North Carolina’s Outer Banks; The Graveyard of the Atlantic; Move of the Century: Cape Hatteras Light; The Cape Hatteras Light: America’s Greatest Sentinel.

Eleanora Tate, author and storyteller, brings an authentic African American perspective to her fiction for middle grade readers. Her newest book Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance, which is set in both Raleigh, NC and Harlem, has received excellent reviews. To Be Free, The Secret of Gumbo Grove, Thank You, Dr, Martin Luther King, and A Blessing in Disguise are also set in the Carolinas. She is also the author of an American Girl History/ Mystery, The Minstrel’s Melody, Front Porch Stories at the One Room School, and a popular non-fiction title African American Musicians.

Julia Taylor Ebel's writing reflects her appreciation of family stories and cultural history and her love of nature. She has recently published Orville Hicks: Mountain Stories-Mountain Roots. The picture book Walking Ribbon is a wonderful story of North Carolina in an earlier, simpler time. Another favorite, Addie Clawson, Appalachian Mail Carrier, has recently received national attention.

John Golden, storyteller and balladeer, writes and performs North Carolina colonial songs, sea songs and stories many of which can be heard on his five recorded CD’s. John was awarded Storyteller of the Year for North Carolina in 2003 by the North Carolina Storytelling Guild.

Joyce Hostetter, author of the award-winning book Blue has just penned a new story entitled Healing Water about a Hawaiian boy in the leper colony on Molokai. It’s sure to be an inspiration!

Donna Campbell Smith returns to our event with two popular favorites, Pale as the Moon and An Independent Spirit. Donna’s interest in horses goes way beyond their role in historical fiction. She is a riding instructor, breeder and trainer. Just released in 2007 is The Book of Draft Horses: The Horse That Built the World. The Book of Miniature Horses (2005) is a fascinating look at a little known breed.

Francie Hall, a perennial favorite, writes for young people about the natural and cultural heritage of the mountains . Appalachian Christmas ABC ‘s is scheduled to be released just in time for the Experience. --- Don’t miss her other titles —Appalachian ABC’s and Scottish Highland Games!

Jack Fryar,is a life-long resident of southeastern North Carolina, born and raised in Wilmington. He has been a professional writer and publisher since 1994. In 2000, he founded Dram Tree Books, a small publishing house whose titles tell the story of coastal North Carolina’s vivid and exciting history. Pirates of the North Carolina Coast, The Battles for Fort Fisher and “King George and Broadswords!” The Battle at Widow Moores Creek, are offerings in the Young Reader’s Series of North Carolina History. He is the author of A History Lover’s Guide to Wilmington & The Lower Cape Fear. New offerings include: Under Three Flags, the Fort Johnston Story; The Yellow Death; and The Big Book of the Cape Fear River.

Lynn Salsi, a former classroom teacher and children’s theater director, combines North Carolina culture, folklore and history in her plays and stories. Her recent book Young Ray Hicks Learns the Jack Tales is a blend of historical fiction, Jack tales, and the storytelling tradition. The North Carolina Imagination Box will stimulate the reading, writing, and performing skills of even the most reluctant students. James (Jim) Young, who illustrates the Jack Tales by Salsi, will draw and perform musical accompaniment while Lynn Salsi tells Jack tales and describes the origin of the stories. However, Young has written and illustrated numerous stories for Scholastic including Puppies in the Snow and The Cows Are in the Corn which will also be available.

Stephanie Greene is the author of more than fifteen books for children including early readers, chapter books and middle grade novels. Her new book Christmas at Stoney Creek is a heartwarming story for young readers. We are hoping her most recent title, The Lucky Ones, will be shipped in time for the Experience. No elementary school library is complete without the antics of Owen Foote who appears in six different titles. The entire series will be out in a new format later this year. Her spring 2005 publication Queen Sophie Hartley received excellent reviews. Moose’s Big Idea, in a series of Moose and Hildy chapter books, is a hilarious story about a moose and his loyal friend. Greene’s other titles include Falling Into Place and Show and Tell.

Libby Bagby and her dog Lucky, the Plot Hound, will be celebrating the publication of their new book Lucky's Plott. Congratulations to Libby, now a retired librarian, for bringing this project to fruition. The book is perfect for elementary libraries.

String Celebration, the husband and wife team of Ken Lankford and Beth Corzine, offer five outstanding musical programs for elementary age children. "Carolina Culture" will be the theme of their lunchtime entertainment at the North Carolina Experience. For public libraries they adapt their shows to the Summer Reading Program theme chosen each year.