Credit to: Jeremy Jones
WCU students and wider community had a chance to listen and chat with Wiley Cash, a New York Times bestselling author during the 20th annual Spring Literary Festival.
Cash is an author in residence at the University of North Carolina-Asheville where he teaches fiction writing and literature.
Opening remarks were given by Jeremy Jones thanking the sponsors for the event and novelist Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle who provided a bio for Cash and her own experience with him as a person.
Cash came onto the stage in front of an audience of many students with a lot to say and jokes in tow. He then went on to discuss the premise of the book as well as reading a few excerpts from his new book, ‘When Ghosts Come Home,’ a haunting mystery about a small town sheriff, Winston Barnes, dealing with a suspicious plane crash, a dead man, resurfacing racial tensions, and his daughter Colleen, who is dealing with an unfathomable loss.
The audience asked many questions such as how he does research for his books and how he goes about naming his characters. Cash was asked about finding a literary agent where he had this to say.
“The worst thing you can do as a writer is tell an agent that you’ve never read a book like this before because the agents gonna think you don’t know how to sell a book like this. What agents want to know is that your book is like other big, successful books,” Cash said.
After the event, the audience was encouraged to go to the booth set up in front of the theater where books can be bought and Cash could sign their copies of his books.
