Get to Know: Special speaker Terry Kay | Yawns Books

Acclaimed author Terry Kay is featured as a special book panel speaker at this year?s Literary Celebration. He will be speaking on Saturday, May 19 at 1 p.m. at the Canton Festival of the Arts, held in historic downtown Canton, Ga. He will also be hosting a 90-minute Writing Seminar from 2:15-3:45 p.m. on Saturday, May 19. The cost is $50, and you must register by May 10. Click here for the sign up form.

Terry has had quite a career. The three-time Georgia Author of the Year award winner never intended to be a writer. Born in Hart County, Ga., the 11^th of 12 children, Terry was reared on a farm and graduated from West Georgia Junior College and LaGrange College, earning a degree in Social Science, with extensive study in theater arts.

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He began his career in journalism in 1959 at the Decatur-DeKalb News, a weekly newspaper in Decatur and later worked for The Atlanta Journal as a sportswriter and, for eight years, as one of America?s leading film-theater critics. Kay resigned from The Atlanta Journal in 1973 to begin a career in public relations, later becoming Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Oglethorpe Power Corporation. In 1989, he left the corporate world to devote full time to writing.

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Terry?s first novel, published in 1976, was ?The Year the Lights Came On,? a story inspired by his memory of the coming of electricity to his rural community. He is the author of 12 published works of adult fiction, including the recently released collection of short stories, ?The Greats of Cuttercane,? published by Mercer University Press in October 2011.

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Some of his other works include ?To Dance with the White Dog,? ?The Valley of Light, Taking Lottie Home,? and a children?s book, ?To Whom the Angel Spoke.? Three of his novels have been produced as Hallmark Hall of Fame movies. His books have been published in more than twenty foreign languages, with ?To Dance with the White Dog? selling two million copies in Japan. An essayist and regional Emmy-winning screenwriter as well as a novelist, Terry?s work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. LaGrange College and Mercer University have recognized his work with honorary doctorate degrees.

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In addition to his journalism and corporate and writing careers, Terry has taught as a visiting lecturer in the Department of English at Emory University and twice directed Emory?s summer creative writing program. In 1984, he hosted The Southern Voice, a PBS affiliate (WPBA/Channel30 of Atlanta) series on Southern literature.

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In 2006, Terry was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. He has been married for 52 years and has four children, 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He and his wife currently reside in Athens, Ga.

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Join us at the festival May 19-20 and hear more from this author about his book, his writing process, how he got published and much more. For now, you can visit his website ? http://www.terrykay.com ? for more information.

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Get to Know series

In the weeks leading up to the fourth annual Literary Celebration May 19-20, held in conjunction with the annual Canton Festival of the Arts, we will introduce you to the award-winning, best-selling, up-and-coming authors speaking on the literary panels. We?re calling it the ?Get to Know? series.

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