Mineral Area College to present reception for area authors

PARK HILLS, Mo. -- Two authors from Cape Girardeau will join authors from the St. Louis and Park Hills areas on Feb. 24 for a Mineral Area College event focusing on regional authors.

"Celebrate Local Authors! A Reception and Tea for the Community" will take place at 2 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Mineral Area College Community Center Theater.

The event is being sponsored by the C.H. Cozean Library at the college and the Mineral Area Council on the Arts as part of the weekend's Homecoming festivities. MAC holds its Homecoming festivities in February during the basketball season, since the school doesn't have a football program.

Library staff member Roxanne Cummings said one purpose of the event is to broaden the focus of Homecoming beyond athletics into the cultural realm. Cape Girardeau authors Morley Swingle and Tom Harte will be two of the 18 regional authors in attendance, as well as Dr. Charles Cozean of Cape Girardeau, the library's benefactor.

Other authors at the event include St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan and St. Louis freelance arts and food critic Joe Pollack and his wife, Ann Lemons Pollack, who partners with him as a food critic. Cummings said the authors at the event write in a variety of genres -- period novels, children's books, biography and one, Cheree Berry, who just published a history of the bra.

Harte said he's attending the event as much as a fan -- particularly of McClellan and the Pollacks -- as an author. Harte will be on hand to talk about his book "Stirring Words: Reflections on Life and Recipes," published last year by the Southeast Missouri State University Press.

"I'm looking forward to it," Harte said of the chance to possibly recruit new Harte fans outside the area. "It's just getting a little further outside the general Cape Girardeau area."

Some of those in the Park Hills area may already know Harte through his broadcasts "A Harte Appetite" and "Caffe Concerto" on Southeast Public Radio, which expanded its signal into the Farmington, Mo., area last September.

Dan Woods, Southeast Public Radio general manager, said he and members of his staff will be on hand at the event to tell attendees about the station and to possibly interview some of the authors for future broadcast.

Southeast Missouri State University Press director Dr. Susan Swartwout will also be on hand to tell the audience about the university press and its books. The press published Harte's book and Swingle's "The Gold of Cape Girardeau."

The event will begin with a question-and-answer session for the entire authors panel, followed by a chance for guests to purchase books and have them signed by the authors, followed by a tea-and-cookie reception.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182