On Thursday, March 21, at the Greenville Museum of Art, Eleanora Tate read from her work and discussed her writing. Tate wrote her first story in third grade and has continued writing every since. Tate discussed the importance of bringing authenticity to her work and feels it is important to make characters memorable for children and to create a thirst for where they came from. Tate also feels a responsibility for what she puts into her work and believes children's book artists have high standards. 

Tate has won many accolades, such as the Zora Neal Hurston Award in 1999. Her most recent book is The Minstrel's Melody, published in March 2001, a Pleasant Company American Girl "History Mysteries" book. Set in Missouri in 1904, its heroine Orphelia Bruce is determined to become a professional musician against her family's wishes. 

Tate is the author of many other books including: Don't Split the Pole: Tales of Down-Home Folk Wisdom, a collection of short stories that take place mostly in North Carolina; Retold African Myths; The Secret of Gumbo Grove, a Parents' Choice Gold Seal Award winner; and its sister books A Blessing in Disguise, an American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists," and Thank You, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.!, a 1990 Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies and a Child Study Book Committee "Children's Book of the Year." The Secret of Gumbo Grove and Thank You, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.! Front Porch Stories at the One-Room School and its sister book Just an Overnight Guest are also set in northeast Missouri, where the author was born and where she attended a one-room school built in 1880. The school closed after Brown vs. Board of education. She and her husband live in Durham. 

Barry Saunders is definitely not afraid of offending readers. Saunders read at The Greenville Museum of Art on February 26. His article about the prisoner's last meal seemed to have been a favorite among the audience. He cited examples of what prisoners frequently choose to eat: fried chicken, chitlins, and hotdogs. He noted that prisoners never order steak because just about all prisoners waiting to be executed are poor, and not accustomed to having too many choices. His argument against the death penalty is that it is unfair to poor people. He concluded his talk by saying, "the only thing I want fried is my chicken." 

A collection of his columns, Do Unto Others--And Then Run, was published last year. He is a regular panelist on "N.C. Spin," a talk show dealing with statewide issues. 

Barry Saunders has been a columnist with the Raleigh News & Observer since 1993. Prior to that, he was a reporter and then columnist with the Post-Tribune newspaper in Gary, Ind., and then the Richmond County Daily Journal in Rockingham, NC. Saunders writes irreverent, provocative columns--in which you are as likely to read a quote by Shakespeare as you are from Fred Sanford. He has been honored twice as "Best in the State" by the NC Press Association.