Poet/novelist/historian Robert Morgan spoke at Barton College tonight. I had heard Morgan talk twice earlier, each time at the N.C. Literary Festival in Chapel Hill last year and several years before. The first time, his blockbuster novel "Gap Creek" (an Oprah Book Club designation) had only recently been published to rave reviews. It told a wonderful love story in simple, 19th-century cadences, leaving us reader to marvel at the tribulations of our ancestors, who survived on little more than faith and love. Morgan, in a large auditorium, seemed a little above his audience.
The second time I head him, he was reading from his award-winning poetry with his mentor, Fred Chappell, and one of Morgan's students. It was an entertaining time as each read from some recent verse.
At Barton tonight, before a relatively small crowd, Morgan was entertaining and charming as he talked about Daniel Boone and read from his "Boone: A Biography." Before his talk, Morgan was friendly and conversational, finding people to talk to when the line for book signing dwindled. He seemed like the avuncular neighbor you'd enjoy having for dinner.
My wife and I had read "Gap Creek" but could not find our copy of it (did we ever own it?) or of his "Truest Pleasure" (had we read that one?). We bought his "Boone" biography and his historical novel "Brave Enemies." We're looking forward to curling up with each one.
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