Jackson County Gala Event Planned to Honor Dr. Gary Carden

Dr. Gary Neil Carden-Playwright & Storyteller

Gala Event Planned To Honor Carden Lifetime Of Achievement

Sylva November 7, 2012—Friday November 9 friends of Gary Neil Carden will honor the playwright with a gala event at the Jackson County Library. A reception to begin at 6:00 pm in the library's atrium with a program of presentations, proclamations and speeches to follow at 7:00 pm in the Community Room of the old Jackson County Courthouse.

Dave Waldrop, local author and personal friend of Carden's said “Gary has worked hard for many years writing and producing plays, teaching Appalachian culture, and realistic portraying Appalachia and its people across multiple genres. He deserves recognition from his friends and community.”

Recognitions planned to be given to Carden include proclamations/awards from Commissioner Doug Cody of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, Town of Sylva Mayor Maurice Moody, and Cherrrie' Moses, Chair of the Jackson County Historical Commission.

The Jackson County Friends of the Library will host the reception with food and beverages. Southern Appalachian music will be provided by Eric Young, Paul Iarussi, and Adam Bigelow.

All are invited.

Cordially,

Carl Iobst
Principle
Iobst & Associates Advertising, Public Relations/Publicity
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Some information about Dr. Carden:

Gary Neil Carden

236 Cherry Street, Sylva, NC 28779

Birth Date: January 20, 1935

Websites:

tannerywhistle.net ; hollernotes.blogspot.com ; facebook.com/gary.n.carden

Accomplishments:

Plays:

"The Uktena" - "The Raindrop Waltz" - "Land's End" - "Nance Dude." "Birdell" - "Prince of Dark Corners" - “Madison” - “Signs and Wonders” - "Mother Jones" - “Outlander”

Appalachian Heritage Live Presentations:

“The Liars Bench” (2010 - current)

Books:

“Outlander” (2012) - “Mason Jars in the Flood and other stories” (2000) - “Papa's Angels: A Christmas Story” (1996; with Collin Wilcox Paxton) - “Belled Buzzards, Hucksters and Grieving Specters Appalachian Tales: Strange, True & Legendary” (1994; with Nina Anderson)

Videos:

“The Prince of Dark Corners” (2009) - “Blow the Tannery Whistle” (1994) – Narrator of 2005 PBS Documentary “Mountain Talk”

Paintings (Southern Appalachian Outsider Art):

“Preaching to the Chickens” - “Jonah” - “The Fall of Sky Woman” - “Learning to Ride A Leopard” - “Mason Jars in the Flood” - “Two Foxes Dancing on a Moonlit Road in Georgia” - “Daniel in the Lions' Den” - “Rapture at MacDonald's”

Awards:

North Carolina Award for Literature (2012)

WCU Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters (2008)

The North Carolina Folklore Society: 2006 Brown-Hudson Folklore Award

2001 Appalachian Writers Association Book of the Year (Mason Jars in the Flood)

American Library Association 1998 Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's video

Influence in Appalachian Folklore/Culture:

Gary Carden, a regular contributor to The Smoky Mountain News/Smoky Mountain Living Magazine, is a playwright, storyteller and dramatist who has been recognized by the North Carolina Folklore Society for his contributions to folklore. The nominee taught Appalachian culture at Elderhostels at Highlands and Lake Junaluska for more than 20 years. The nominee created and is the artistic director for the Liars Bench, a live, authentic Southern Appalachian storytelling, music, poetry, drama, and folk arts presentation. The nominee has been invited to give a presentation on Southern Appalachian culture/tradition at the Democratic national Convention in Charlotte in September of 2012. The nominee has also been nominated for the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award for “Outlander” in 2012. It is quite possible that no single individual has done more for the realistic portrayal of Appalachia and its people across multiple genres for over the past 40 years than Gary Neil Carden.