Wishing for Fall Weather, a fifth Tuesday event at Star Line Books, is set for Tuesday, Aug. 30, from 7-8 p.m. Three regional authors will present their best works. They are Jim Pfitzer, a nationally known Chattanooga storyteller; Poet Marsha (Caddell) Mathews, Ph.D., an author and an educator with a new book of poetry about to be released and Janie Dempsey Watts, who has written for newspapers, magazines and television.
A Chattanooga native, Janie Dempsey Watts grew up riding horses on her family’s farm in North Georgia. Her curiosity about most everything steered her to study journalism at the University of California, Berkeley (B.A.) and at the University of Southern California (M.A.) She has written for newspapers, magazines, and television. Her stories have been published in literary magazines and anthologies.
Ms. Watts has authored two novels. Return to Taylor's Crossing (October, 2015) won first place in the Knoxville Writers' Guild novel excerpt competition and third place in the Frank Yerby Writing Competition. She was nominated for Georgia Author of the Year (2016). Her first novel, Moon Over Taylor's Ridge (August, 2012) was a Georgia Author of the Year Award nominee for a debut novel, was chosen as the Community-Read by Catoosa County’s Literacy Program, and was featured in the 2014 Appalachian Writers Series.
Today Ms. Watts lives in Woodstation, Ga., near Taylor’s Ridge, a landmark featured in both her novels. She is married and has two grown sons, two grandchildren, three horses, a barn cat, and a clingy and charming American Bulldog, Bella. For a complete list of her published works, please visit her at: www.janiewatts.com.
Marsha (Caddell) Mathews, Ph.D., 1987, English, M.Div., 1996, Theology, is an author and an educator. An excerpt from her novel, “More than a Mess of Greens,” appears in The Broad River Review. Her first book of poems, Northbound Single-Lane follows a single mother who leaves behind all she knows, except for her children, and heads north (Finishing Line Press, 2010). Her second book, love poems, Sunglow & A Tuft of Nottingham Lace, was published by Red Berry Editions, 2011. Her third book of poems, Hallelujah Voices, set in Appalachia, draws from her experience as an ordained pastor in the 1990s (Aldrich Press, 2012). Each book is available at amazon.com.
Dr. Mathews’s work appears in literary magazines and quarterlies, such as Appalachian Heritage, Fourth River, Greensboro Review, Kansas Quarterly, Inkwell, Pembroke, Raleigh Review, Relief: A Christian Literary Expression, and Third Wednesday. She is a member of the Chattanooga Writers Guild and has served on their Board of Directors. She is a member of Georgia Writers Association. Dr. Mathews is an associate professor at Dalton State College and the advisor for the campus literary magazine, Tributaries. Her new book is Growing Up with Pigtails from Aldrich Press.
Nationally known Chattanooga storyteller, conservationist and author Jim Pfitzer has felt the pull of the natural world since childhood. Whether fishing, bird watching, canoeing, deer hunting or gathering wild edibles, he is at home in the woods and knows how to read the landscape. He has also performed as a storyteller in numerous venues.
Mr. Pfitzer has delighted audiences with his story of Aldo Leopold, the man who developed The Land Ethic, in his one man show, Aldo Leopold: A Standard of Change. He has performed the show at venues as diverse as the Bonaroo music festival, the Geography of Hope Conference at Point Reyes, California, and the Aldo Leopold Center at Baraboo, Wisconsin. Leopold is an iconic character in the conservation movement, best known for his book, A Sand County Almanac, yet virtually unknown to the larger society.