Last night, in the auditorium at the Elliot University Center on the UNCG campus, literary great James McBride spoke as part of the 2024 Greensboro Bound Literary Festival. Actually, he engaged in a conversation with moderator and author, Tita Ramierz, who teaches writing at Elon University. She came with a combination of her own well-crafted questions and questions shared from local book club members. McBride has written many books, the ones most-discussed last night were "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" and "The Color of Water"- the latter a memoir that divides chapters between his mother's life (in italics) and his own. McBride also came to UNCG's campus 25 years ago when UNCG freshman read was "the Color of Water" with over 900 people attending his presentation.
McBride shared so many pearls of wisdom, including what "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" is about. McBride explained it addresses small town secrets and the people who keep them, and what it was like to be an American at a time when that term was being revised. It is also about dialog. The book started as a chapter about a camp Moshe started and it grew from there. The topic of immigration and the Jewish experience in America is addressed. The character Malechai leads the reader to ponder what one keeps from the old-country vs. a new way of living. Ramierz noted that McBride was masterful at tying together all the threads of the characters' stories in the last 1/3 of the book. McBride said that he had those last three exciting chapters of Moby Dick in mind when writing the novel. He urges every American student to read those last three chapters of Moby Dick- and perform one year of service abroad.
When asked what he would write next, McBride talked about how hard it is to write a book after you've published one that is so widely successful. He said that he has to get it out of his head that the next book needs to be a "home run." He also said he's had his turn and that he is ready to give someone else a chance. McBride reminded the audience we need to support young, up-and-coming writers, which can be done with the help of the indie bookstores and librarians.
McBride, a journalist himself, mentioned that at one time Greensboro had the most talented journalists, but local news is now lacking. Through good journalistic practices, people learn to write and the community stays abreast of what is happening. He asserts journalism is the perfect background to be a fiction writer.
If you have not read "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store," do yourself a favor and read it. We plan to reread it, focusing on ideas his talk. Also, we want to pay more attention to the relationship between Fatty and Big Soap, and look for the reference at the end regarding "waiting for the future." We knew we would love McBride's insight into his writing and life in general. What we didn't anticipate was how special it would be to spend the evening surrounded by people who love to read and discuss books
If you want to attend the Greensboro Bound Literary Festival over the next three days, see the schedule HERE, and if you want to purchase the books, head to Scuppernong Books.
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