WS Chronicle

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

On Saturday, Nov. 19, the Carver School Road branch public library will hold an “Indie Author Celebration,” where they will bring together eight self-published authors for a collaborative book signing. Charlene Edwards of the Carver School Road library said she has received inquires from authors in the past few months that wished to have a book signing at the library.  She said after attending a book signing in Durham where there were several new authors there at once, she reached out to the authors and the event grew from there.

Latisha Stuckey, author of “Cast Down, But Not Destroyed: Destiny’s Child,” says after she did her initial book signing, she thought about what her next move would be. She said when the opportunity came for her to do a book signing with multiple authors, she jumped at the chance.

“Collaborating with other self-published authors is great because we can learn from one another and we can garner more exposure and show our books to more people,” Stuckey said.

Shelva Davis, author of “Never Alone,” says her book centers on the tragedy that happened while traveling abroad with her daughter and the struggles both of them suffered soon there-after.  The book is converted from the journal she kept throughout the ordeal. Her daughter read her journal and told her she needed to convert this into a book.

“I still cry, and it’s two years later. It’s just so amazing how good God is,” said Davis.  “We don’t know why this happened, but we just have to tell people our story.”

Another Author involved is Mary Carlton, who wrote “Front Pew Abuse.”  She said her book was birthed from a personal ordeal she dealt with while being married to her former husband, a minister. She said the book touches on infidelity, deceit, lies and life after her husband went to prison. She says that she knows there are other women who are married to ministers that are dealing with similar issues and hopes she can help some of those women.

Teauna Vinson is author of, “When My Granny Passed Away: My Journey Under & Out of the Shadow of Grief.”  She said when her grandmother passed away unexpectedly, she became really stressed out and used writing the book as a venue to get over her grief.  She said she hopes her book can help someone deal with the grief of losing a loved one.

Edwards said she is just happy to just play a part in bringing the authors together.  She said the library has had many best selling authors there who have spoken about being self published and now are very successful.  She hopes the same for this group of authors.

Edwards went on to say, “Anything that we can do to help them or encourage them, I’m just excited to play a part in that.”

The other authors included are Yolanda M. Johnson-Bryant, author of “3737 Grim Avenue”; Beverly L. Johnson, author of “My Name is Alvonia”; Glynis W. Bell, author of “Fierce & Fabulous: A Young Lady’s Guide To Inspiration and Positive Self-Image”; and Richale R. Reed, author of “Silhouette of Her Naked and Unashamed, A Poetic Journey of Faith.”