Bestselling author Wiley Cash to present public reading, receive Heasley Prize for Fiction at Lyon College
BATESVILLE, Arkansas – New York Times bestselling author Wiley Cash will present a public reading of his work at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, in the Bevens Music Room of the Brown Chapel on the Lyon College campus, 2300 Highland Rd., Batesville.
Following the reading, Lyon College will award Cash the Heasley Prize for Fiction, an endowed recognition the college presents annually to a noted writer. The event is free and open to the public, and no reservation or ticket is required.
Cash gained literary recognition for his award-winning debut novel, “A Land More Kind Than Home” (2012), a mesmerizing literary thriller about the bond between two brothers and the evil they face in a small western North Carolina town. His second novel, the acclaimed “This Dark Road to Mercy” (2014), is about two young sisters and their estranged father, and “The Last Ballad” (2017), is a historical novel based on the life of workers’ rights activist Ella May Wiggins.
Cash is a native North Carolinian, and his work enlivens the landscape of this beloved home and the people he knows so well. His latest novel, “When Ghosts Come Home” (2021), is again set in North Carolina, but this time Cash shifts from the mountainous region of the state to the east coast beach town of Oak Island. Cash’s prose and storytelling are emboldened in this fully loaded suspense novel.
Cash writes about the world and celebrates its beauty, yet he is also wary of how challenging and painful it can be. The final scenes of “When Ghosts Come Home” pack an emotional wallop. Readers will be left to rethink their perceptions and retrace their steps to understand the nuanced relationships these characters have with one another.
This powerful and beautiful novel “cements Cash’s growing reputation as an outstanding contemporary writer every reader should know,” said Dr. Terrell Tebbetts of Lyon College’s English department.
For more information on the Heasley Prize and the event, please contact Dr. Tebbetts atTerrell.Tebbetts@lyon.edu.
Cathy Drew is a lifelong resident of the region that she loves to promote. She was born in downtown Batesville in the late ’60s, located in one of the eight counties she now enjoys encouraging people to visit.
Drew became associated with the Ozark Gateway Region in 1990 while working at the ad agency (The Media Market Inc.). The agency handled marketing for the regional association, where she and her co-workers produced an annual tabloid publication. She began working as the Ozark Gateway Region director in June 2000.
After Drew became director, she took the region to the next level by helping the tourism organization create a new website and moved it from the old newspaper paper tabloid publication to a color magazine format. She helped open a visitor center for the Ozark Gateway, allowing visitors to pick up information from the entire state 24/7. Over the years, Drew has helped the organization meet new marketing goals, such as in- and out-of-state marketing, assuring that all 100,000 copies of their magazines are distributed each year.
In 2016, she assisted in creating the first Ozark Gateway Region Golf Classic. The tournament continues to grow each year, allowing the organization to expand its co-op program and helping each county have dedicated promotion. Drew stays busy at Ozark Gateway as the ad sales manager, magazine editor, day-to-day office operations, trade show representative, and magazine distribution representative, all while ensuring that the region is represented all over Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Drew was featured in several local and statewide publications over the years, as well as the 1997 cover of the Ozark Gateway Region tabloid, along with her then 4-year-old son, Jon. She has received several awards, such as the Batesville Rotarian of the Year in 2010 and a three-time Paul Harris Fellow.
She also has served as an Independence County election commissioner for several years. She now serves as their co-election coordinator, helping with behind-the-scenes management of voting equipment, day-to-day election deadlines, and poll worker training.
Drew is Batesville Rotary Club Past President, and is the Rotary Clubs’ current membership chair.
In March of 2018, Drew was honored with induction into the Arkansas Tourism Hall of Fame for her many years of dedicated service to the tourism industry.