WILSON, N.C. — Plan to join Dr. Rebecca Godwin, professor of English and director of The Sam and Marjorie Ragan Writing Center at Barton College, for a 2012 Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming Community Event to be held at the Wilson County Public Library, on Monday, March 19, at 7 p.m. This event is open to the public free of charge, and the community is invited to attend.
The focus of this year’s Literary Homecoming, sponsored by East Carolina University, Joyner Library, and North Carolina Literary Review, is “Litflix: Adapting North Carolina Literature into Film.” Monday evening’s discussion will showcase the 38-minute film “Just an Overnight Guest,” based on the book by Eleanora Tate, an award-winning African American writer of children’s and young adult literature who has lived in North Carolina for several decades. Focusing on a family who takes in an abused young girl, the book and film encourage a positive attitude toward foster care and adoption while teaching values such as sharing, compassion, and responsibility, and spreading awareness of the needs of homeless children.
The 1983 film, starring Richard Rountree (of Shaft fame) and Rosalind Cash, won “Best” in the Family Issues category at the Birmingham International Film Festival and the National Educational Film Festival, and it was a finalist in the Human Relations category at the American Film Festival. The American Library Association listed “Just an Overnight Guest” as a Selected Film for Young Adults in 1985.
After showing the film, Dr. Godwin will lead a discussion of its value for young viewers. She also will identify differences between the book and the film while sharing Tate’s comments about her involvement with the making of the film and her response to it. The film is appropriate for viewers of all ages and should evoke meaningful discussion not only about abuse and homelessness but also about attitudes towards mixed race children, now and in the past. All are welcome to join the discussion.
Those interested in learning more about the Eastern Literary Homecoming can go to www.ecu.edu/lithomecoming.
Ms. Tate will join Charles Frazier, author of “Cold Mountain,” and other North Carolina writers whose books have been made into films at the main Literary Homecoming at East Carolina University in September.
For additional information about this event, please contact Dr. Rebecca Godwin, at 252-399-6364 or email: rlgodwin@barton.edu.
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Questions? Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.