Sherry Robinson speaks at library in Abingdon
October 13, 2019 | 3 pm @ Washington County Public Library
• OCT. 13: Sunday with Friends hosts Sherry Robinson at the Washington County Public Library, Abingdon, Va., at 3 p.m. She discusses her new novel, “Blessed.” Book sales and signing. Free and open to the public. 276-676-6298, www.wcpl.net
About the Book:
Grayson Armstrong’s vision for a dying church has everyone in small-town Mercy, Kentucky, talking. The truth is everyone has been talking about Grayson ever since this dark-haired 28-year-old preacher with shoulder-length hair and an ill-fitting suit drove into town 12 years before in his silver convertible with his pretty wife and two rambunctious boys. It’s his untimely death, though, that has everyone trying to understand who they thought he was.
This vivid, poignant and heart-breaking story is told by multiple characters whose paths intersect with Grayson: a homeless Vietnam veteran haunted by demons of war; the local diner’s young waitress grappling with her family’s dark history; aggrieved and supportive congregants and townspeople confronting change and the power of love and hate; and Grayson’s wife and his coming-of-age gay son, struggling to understand their own feelings about Grayson.
During a time when communities and countries are split apart, Robinson’s calming prose and timely story encourages us to put aside our fears, hate, and biases and to open our hearts and challenge our perceptions. “Blessed” is ultimately a story of hope and of the power of forgiveness.
About the Author:
Sherry Robinson, an American fiction writer, is the author of two novels, “Blessed” (2019) and “My Secrets Cry Aloud” (2009). She is currently Vice Provost and Professor of English at Eastern Kentucky University, where she spent 13 years specializing in American Literature before moving into administrative positions.
Robinson is a native of Lexington, Kentucky, where her desire to be an author was also born. From an early age, she became entranced with words, but it took many years and a few detours before the publication of her first novel. Among those detours was the completion of an M.A. from Eastern Kentucky University and a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky, both in English. Reading the works of so many accomplished authors taught her the characteristics of quality writing and inspired her to reignite her passion for writing. In addition to studying great works of literature, Robinson spent two summers at the Hindman Settlement School’s Appalachian Writers Workshop under the mentorship of Silas House.
Category: Literature