Morgantown authors Holiday Literary Event

Morgantown authors Diane Tarantini and Ted Webb have teamed up for a special pre-holiday literary event at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5, at Zenclay.

The event is free and open to the public. It will be in the upstairs gallery at Zenclay, located at 2862 University Avenue, Morgantown.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, the authors will share their unique ways of looking at the world, with stories, anecdotes and poems. Get ready for a dynamic, thought-provoking journey into the mind and heart. A book signing will immediately follow the literary performances.

Tarantini won four awards at the 2010 West Virginia Writer’s conference in Ripley. Her writing placed in humor, inspirational, book-length prose, and People’s Choice. The manuscript for her debut novel, “Confessions of a Life Half Lived,” is currently with an editor. The author’s blog is at http://www.caughtbutterflies.blogspot.com/.

“Diane has an approach that is so congenial and unassuming that before you know it she’s woven one of her vignettes around you. It’s really kind of rare and magical,” said West Virginia Writers, Inc. president emeritus Terry McNemar.

“The freshness of Diane's narrative voice, its whimsical tone, belies the grittiness of her subject matter. She crafts layered and often secret worlds with a light, deft touch,” said West Virginia author/editor Geoffrey Cameron Fuller.

Tarantini, a native of Huntington, graduated from West Virginia University’s Perry Isaac Reed School of Journalism. She has been a food panelist with The Dominion Post and currently writes for West Virginia Writers, Inc.

Webb is a co-founding member of Morgantown Poets, a monthly event serving the literary arts community in north-central West Virginia. His poem, “Star Bus,” was featured in Mountain Line’s “Poetry on the Move” program. His writing has been published in Appalachian Sand & Gravel, West Virginia Words, Outstretch, Appalachian Crier and Trillium, among other places. Webb helps organize writing workshops and literary events in the community and is involved in local literary groups. He’s written two books of poetry, “Vision” and “If Peace Were a Promise.”