|
Love
letters to the sound country Stories of the Albemarle region's inner islands are plenty. The history of the region is rich with legend, characters and lore. And there may be only one storyteller qualified to spin those yarns effectively enough to ensnare a reader and captivate the imagination. That storyteller is Elizabeth City native and veteran author Bland Simpson. Simpson is known to area readers for his work on Nell Cropsey and his collection of stories about the Great Dismal Swamp. Now fans can sit back and relax as they enjoy the straightforward cadence of Simpson in his newest collection of essays on his beloved coastal North Carolina, "A Carolinian's Sound Country Chronicle: The Inner Islands." Accompanied by photographs shot by his wife Ann Cary Simpson, Bland Simpson paints a portrait of a mystical land that exists in the heart of every person who has ever been touched by the scenic beauty of Carolina's lowlands. From Ocracoke Island, to Roanoke Island to The Curritucks, Simpson has penned a love letter to the region he knows as home. "I have boated to them, beached small craft upon them, worn my trousers rolled and walked their small shores, listened always for notes from ancient flutes and shell-shakers, snatches of song in the wind, and, knowing I was there but for a slip of time, probably never to return to most of them, I have loved them all — from the little mossy islands of Pembroke Creek near Edenton, to those at the mouth of Deep Creek into Bull's Bay; from Colington in the sound behind Kitty Hawk, where my cousin the high sheriff of Tyrrell County as a young man used to beach his boat and make his way with kin through the liveoak ... ." writes Simpson in the book's prelude. Simpson's many books include "Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals: The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering," and "Into the Sound Country: A Carolinian's Coast Plain." He is a member of the Tony Award-winning band, Red Clay Ramblers and has collaborated on musicals like "King Mackerel & the Blues are Running." He teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. |
