Sherry Austin is the author of four works of fiction: THE COMFORTER: A GHOST TALE OF FLAT ROCK, THE LITTLE CHARLESTON OF THE MOUNTAINS; THE DAYS BETWEEN THE YEARS, a finalist for the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction; WHERE THE WOODBINE TWINES, Honorable Mention in Foreword Magazine's Book of the Year Award; and MARIAH OF THE SPIRITS: AND OTHER SOUTHERN GHOST STORIES, recipient of several awards.

She has received two literary fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the state of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts--one for fiction and one for literary nonfiction. She is a speaker for the North Carolina Humanities Council Speakers' Forum on the topic "The Audacious and the Fantastic: the Art of Southern Gothic." She is a member of the Southern Arts Federation, a multi-disciplinary showcase of outstanding Southern artists.

Sherry is a North Carolina Arts Council Touring Artist, offering these programs (more info here):

“Reading and Writing Fiction Fantastique” is a two-hour workshop that introduces participants to a kind of speculative fiction known as “weird” literature (e.g. slipstream, interstitial, bizarro) which has roots in the magical realism of surrealist authors such as Julio Cortazar, Jorges Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, and others. Adventurous readers and writers will go away inspired to stretch their minds toward the borderlands of the human imagination. Appropriate for adults of all ages. Fee: $400 plus expenses.

“Writing the Days Between Your Years” is a day-long workshop in which participants learn and practice the tools professional writers use to create one strong, well-crafted, compulsively readable short piece of memoir in a fun, comfortable environment. Also for adults of all ages. Fee: $1,200 plus expenses. Can also be done as a residency; fee negotiable.

************************

Though she writes speculative fiction as well as nonfiction about mythology and folklore, she actively supports critical thinking and science education. Visit Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute near Brevard, NC where scores of people are learning how science can excite the imagination.

Also, visit Flat Rock Playhouse and Vagabond School of Drama in Flat Rock, NC to learn about great theatre and outstanding educational opportunities for young people and adults in FRPH's exciting, ever-expanding YouTheatre program.

Read the following blogs:

Pure T. Gossip with Trixie Goforth: Trixie is the heroine of THE DAYS BETWEEN THE YEARS.

Sherry’s blog “Strangeness: Exploring the Strange and Strangely Wonderful in Literature, Art, and Science."

Follow Sherry on Twitter.