Events & Exhibits: 2010 Brown Bag Talks

Sam Schuman
Professor of Literature

Will read from and discuss Seeing the Light: Religious Colleges in Twenty-First Century America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.

Grant Hardy
Professor of History

Will read and discuss his forthcoming book,  Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader's Guide (Oxford University Press)

From the book jacket -- "Mark Twain once derided the Book of Mormon as "chloroform in print." Long and complicated, written in the language of the King James version of the Bible, it boggles the minds of many. Yet it is unquestionably one of the most influential books ever written. With over 140 million copies in print, it is a central text of one of the largest and fastest-growing faiths in the world. And, Grant Hardy shows, it's far from the coma-inducing doorstop caricatured by Twain.  In Understanding the Book of Mormon, Hardy offers the first comprehensive analysis of the work's narrative structure in its 180 year history."

Susan Reinhardt
Columnist and Author

Susan Reinhardt is the guest speaker for the Regional Author Talk reception at the Glass House adjacent to Ramsey Library.

Ms. Reinhardt is a nationally award winning columnist for the Asheville Citizen-times and other papers. She is the author of three New York published books, one of which was a humor bestseller and another won a book of the year award. He latest book is Dishing With the Kitchen Virgin.

Michael Cogdill
Alumnus, News anchor and Author

Mr. Cogdill graduated from UNC Asheville in 1984. He has been named the University's Distinguished Alumnus. He is also the founder of the George and Marjorie Cogdill Endowment for Media Studies scholarship.

Mr. Cogdill has received numerous awards for his exemplary writing and reporting, including 25 Southern Regional Emmy Awards and is recipient of the 2006 National R. Murrow Award for outstanding work in the field of broadcast journalism. His newest novel She-Rain was published earlier this year.

Nan Chase
Professor and Author

Nan Chase is the author of two recent books, Eat Your Yard! and Asheville: A History, and co-authored a third, Bark House Style, with Chris McCurry. During a 30-year freelance journalism career she has written about topics as diverse as nuclear power and miniskirts, for such publications as the New York Times, Washington Post, Southern Living, WNC Magazine, and Air & Space. She is an avid gardener and president of the new Asheville E-Z Gardeners club. She and her husband, Saul Chase, live in Asheville and have three grown children. 

Terrell Garren
Historian and Author

Garren is a civil war historian and the foremost expert on the civil war events of  western North Carolina. He has authored four historical fiction and non-fiction works.

Garren was born and raised in western North Carolina. He is a US Army veteran of the conflict in Viet Nam. He taught school in Haywood County and was Assistant Principal at AC Reynolds Middle School. Garren served as top aide to former United States Representative James McClure Clarke for the 98th, 100th, and 101st Congresses of the United States. Garren resides in Haywood county with his wife. They have one grown daughter.

Paul Howey
Magazine Editor and Author

Paul began his career in journalism as a crime reporter and photographer for the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio. His career path is varied and includes time spent in advertising, landscape design, fundraising, professional politics and ten-years in the oil and gas industry raising money for wildcat drilling. He reentered the journalism field in the mid nineties as an editor and staff manager for a children's book publishing company. He currently serves as editor for The Laurel of Asheville.  

Paul has written books for a variety of audiences. His most recent book, Freckles:The Mystery of the Little Dog in the Desert, won several awards.