27 Views

It’s that time of year when we remember Hillsborough’s favorite self-taught mortician, RWB Latta (aka writer Allan Gurganus). Now retired, he offered trick-or-treaters a coffin full of candy, and his sales pitch promising deeply discounted and artistic funeral services, with examples galore of his work. To clinch the deal, he treated potential clients to a mash-up of skits, full of fright and politics and frightful politics. The crowds couldn’t get enough. 500 souls lined up each year. For more than a quarter-century on All Hallow’s Eve, the spookiest and most overrun place in town was the Latta funeral home, which took possession of writer Allan Gurganus’s otherwise-respectable bungalow.

Novelist Allan Gurganus has been delighting reading audiences for decades. His books include The Practical Heart, Plays Well With Others, Local Souls, White People, and Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, which has been adapted for both stage and screen. Many of his short stories have been published in The New Yorker. He recently published The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus, and is at work on a new novel, The Erotic History of a Country Baptist Church. 

In a world of "boomburbs" and generic downtowns, Hillsborough, North Carolina, stands out. Cohesive, walkable, its streets lined with 250 years of architectural styles, the town has gone from sleepy to vibrant in the last 20 years. Journalist Bob Burtman lives and works there, and keeps a watchful eye for storm clouds on the town’s horizon. 

A veteran investigative journalist and radio DJ, for the past eight years Bob Burtman has combined his passion for both as co-founder and president of WHUP, a community radio station in Hillsborough. Bob hosts the station’s local news show five mornings a week, as well as a Sunday night music show, “Roots Rampage.” Bob’s early career revolved around jobs that provided free LPs, such as writing music reviews, which evolved into a full-time journalism job with the Independent Weekly (now called Indy Week). During his tenure at the Houston Press from 1995-2001, he won numerous state and national honors for his long-form stories about criminal justice, the environment, local politics, and people behaving badly. His freelance work has appeared in The Nation, Mother Jones, and other publications. After interest in local and regional journalism waned, Bob turned his focus to investigative research for private clients. When not at the WHUP studios, he can often be found kicking back and listening to music from his record collection, which reflects his long-time obsession with vinyl.

Retired judge Beverly A. Scarlett recounts her life in the small Southern town of Hillsborough, North Carolina—from Jim Crow, through the tumultuous years of school desegregation, to her successful judicial career. Scarlett digs deep into the town’s past and her family’s roots along the Eno River, and discovers the complicated place she calls home. 

A lifelong resident of Hillsborough, Beverly A. Scarlett is a retired attorney and prosecutor. She served several terms as district court judge for Orange and Chatham Counties, the first African-American woman so elected. She now heads Indigenous Memories Incorporated, a nonprofit organization she founded to explore and preserve the land and memory of her ancestors, including their sacred burial grounds. Scarlett is a contributing author to Eno Publishers’s anthology 27 Views of Hillsborough: A Southern Town in Prose & Poetry. 

Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, young Daniel Wallace was drawn to William Nealy’s world. William was brilliant, talented, a maverick, an adrenaline junkie. He was the boyfriend of Daniel’s sister Holly. Daniel had been pegged to take over the family’s successful import/export business, a role he instinctively knew he wasn’t cut out for. William became like a brother to him, showing him how to live a creative and fulfilling life outside the mainstream. Daniel’s new book, This Isn’t Going to End Well, is a personal narrative of their decades-long friendship, its ups and downs, and how he unraveled and ultimately accepted William’s deeply obscured but very real shadow self.

Daniel Wallace is the J. Ross MacDonald Distinguished Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of six award-winning novels, including Big Fish, Extraordinary Adventures, and Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician. Big Fish, his first novel, was made into a film directed by Tim Burton and was also adapted into a Broadway musical.  He has also written and illustrated a children’s book, The Cat’s Pajamas. This Isn’t Going to End Well, published by Algonquin, is his first work of nonfiction. He wrote the introduction to 27 Views of Chapel Hill, and his work is featured in the anthology, The Carolina Table, both published by Eno Publishers. Daniel is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Sir Walter Raleigh Award, the Harper Lee Award, and the Alabama Author Award. He is a prolific cartoonist.

The vegetables on the Moore family’s supper table, along with the potatoes and the fish, more often than not had been harvested and/or caught, cleaned, and cooked by the family themselves. Lenard D. Moore— now a poet, a gardener, a writer, a lover of jazz—learned early the value of reaping what you sow, in the best and most literal sense. Food on the table was the result of teamwork. Lenard’s fascination with words, his connection with earth and garden, took shape when he was growing up in Eastern North Carolina. There he learned about the summer garden, and by age 12, he took charge of prepping, planting, and maintaining his family’s summer vegetable patch. At the same time, he became interested in the written word. To him, poetry and gardening are interwoven.

Writer and poet Lenard D. Moore grew up in Eastern North Carolina, the inspiration for his story “An Onslow County Tradition,” which was featured in the anthology, The Carolina Table: North Carolina Writers on Food, published by Eno Publishers. Lenard is an award-winning poet who writes in various poetic forms. He has been writing haiku for more than 40 years, and was the first Southerner and African American to be elected president of the Haiku Society of America. He writes and publishes fiction and nonfiction. Lenard has published several books, including The Open Eye and Forever Home. His most recent book is entitled A Million Shadows at Noon, published by Cuttlefish. Lenard is founder and director of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective. He is also a contributor to 27 Views of Raleigh: The City of Oaks in Prose & Poetry, and The Elizabeth Keckley Reader, both published by Eno. His work is featured in All the Songs We Sing: Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Carolina African American Writers' Collective.

When author Jill McCorkle reaches back to her earliest memories, she is a toddler sitting in her grandmother’s kitchen sink taking a playful bath. She remembers the smell of good things baking in the oven, the carefully tended African violets that line the windowsill, the sound of her grandmother humming, and the sight of a bright red, polka-dotted bowl on a nearby shelf. Growing up in Lumberton, North Carolina, young Jill always gravitated to the world of her kind, gentle, and wise grandmother.

Jill McCorkle's career as a writer is the stuff of legend: her first two novels—The Cheer Leader and July 7th—were published on the same day in 1984, when she was in her mid-twenties. She has now published twelve novels and short story collections, most recently the highly acclaimed novel, Hieroglyphics. She has received numerous awards, and in 2018 was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. Jill’s work is included in Eno Publishers’s anthology, The Carolina Table: North Carolina Writers on Food, and she also contributed to Eno’s 27 Views of Hillsborough. She was featured on a previous episode of the 27 Views podcast: Episode 5, “Hunting Down Stories With Jill McCorkle.”

Bridgette Lacy knows her tomatoes. She was indoctrinated at an early age, when her grandfather would shower her family with plump tomatoes he grew in his garden. Come July, young Bridgette looked forward to tomatoes for lunch, dinner, and even breakfast. Fast-forward to Bridgette Lacy, popular features writer at the News and Observer in Raleigh. There she was introduced to the unofficial summer holiday: Mater Day. She’s been observing it ever since.

Bridgette Lacy’s story, “Mater Day,” was featured in the anthology, The Carolina Table: North Carolina Writers on Food, published by Eno Publishers. Bridgette is the publicist for Blair, a regional book publisher. She is a seasoned communicator, an award-winning journalist, and a publicist with a breadth of experience. She is former media relations manager for the North Carolina Arts Council and served as a longtime features writer for the News & Observer in Raleigh. She's the author of Sunday Dinner, a part of the Savor the South series by UNC Press. That title was a finalist for the Pat Conroy Cookbook Prize. Bridgette is a contributor to 27 Views of Raleigh: The City of Oaks in Prose & Poetry, published by Eno. She also is a contributor to All the Songs We Sing: Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Carolina African American Writers' Collective, which was published by Blair. Her work has appeared in Our State, Salt, and O.Henry magazines.

When writer Michael Malone moved back to his native North Carolina, he discovered that fiction came pouring out of him, as did other creative pursuits—plays, songs, imaginative parties, and fundraisers. He was the impresario the small, formerly quiet town of Hillsborough had been waiting for. Among the work inspired by his new hometown was a young adult (YA) story, entitled “Uncle Tatlock and the Town Clock.” Set in a fictionalized version of Hillsborough, the story explores a small town’s past, from its revolutionary roots, to its Civil War surrender, to its contemporary complications and small victories. The town clock has been through it all.

Michael Malone was the author of 12 internationally acclaimed novels, including the classic Handling Sin; Dingley Falls; Fool’s Cap; and The Four Corners of the Sky. He also wrote the popular “Hillston” mysteries, set in a small North Carolina town. The three novels are narrated by two incompatible Piedmont homicide detectives, Justin Savile V and Cuddy Mangum, who over their years of working together forge a close friendship. Michael also published a collection of short stories, entitled Red Clay, Blue Cadillac, as well as two books of nonfiction, one on American movies, one on Jungian psychology. His television writing credits include daytime dramas on ABC, NBC, and Fox. His stories, essays, and criticism have appeared in a wide range of publications, including The Wilson Quarterly, Mademoiselle, Harper’s, The New York Times, The Nation, The Partisan Review, and Playboy. His short works have often been included in anthologies, and his novels have been translated into many languages. Michael also wrote plays, songs, and poems. Among the many prizes he was awarded over his career are the O Henry, the Edgar, the Writers Guild Award, and an Emmy for ABC’s “One Life to Live,” where he was head writer for nearly a decade. He taught at Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, and Swarthmore. Most recently, he was a professor in the theater and English departments at Duke University.

His story, “Uncle Tatlock and the Town Clock,” is a young-adult prequel to his novel, The Last Noel. The Tatlock story appears in Eno Publishers’s anthology, 27 Views of Hillsborough: A Southern Town in Prose & Poetry. 

Michael died in August 2022 at the age of 79.

The Lloyd family reunion was, and still is, a summertime ritual for chef and cookbook author Nancie McDermott. Generations have gathered for over a century in rural Orange County for an afternoon of feasting and visiting. Nancie savors the dishes, the shared experience, and the meaningful connection with her big extended family.

Nancie McDermott has published fourteen cookbooks, most of which are based on the cuisines of Asia and of the American South. Among her books are the award-winning Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations; Real Thai: The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking; and Fruit: A Savor the South Cookbook. A North Carolina native, Nancie grew up watching her maternal grandmother cook and bake in her dairy farm kitchen. It sold her on the idea of the kitchen being a fun, fascinating lab for creating and playing, a place made for celebration and connection. Her interest in Asian food was inspired by the three years she spent as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. She has published articles in Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Fine Cooking, and other publications. Her cover story for Southern Living was nominated for a much-coveted James Beard award. Her television appearances include playing the role of cake historian on Alton Brown’s “Good Eats,” on the Food Network; leading Thai market tours on the Discovery Channel; regular appearances on "Hallmark Home & Family"; and video cooking classes for Craftsy.com. Her essay “The Family Reunion” is included in Eno Publishers’ anthology, The Carolina Table: North Carolina Writers on Food. Nancie lives with her family in Chapel Hill, in a house with a productive and sometimes-messy kitchen, and a garden where okra, basil, Armenian cucumbers, and lemongrass thrive.

Chef Bill Smith worked in the kitchen at Chapel Hill’s famous Crook’s Corner for 25 years. He talks about foraging for honeysuckle and blackberries on the local bike path, his mostly friendly exchanges with other bike path regulars, and the work of keeping Crook’s Latino kitchen staff safe through the Trump years and the pandemic. 

Bill Smith is the retired chef of the now-defunct Crook’s Corner, considered by many Chapel Hill’s most famous restaurant and one of the most innovative kitchens in the South. Bill is the author of several cookbooks, including Seasoned in the South: Recipes & Stories from Crook’s Corner and from Home, and Crabs & Oysters: A Savor the South Cookbook. He is the 2022 recipient of the Southern Foodways Alliance Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award. He was twice nominated for best chef in the U.S. by the James Beard Foundation, and was that organization’s American Classics Award winner in 2011. Bill was a co-founder of Chapel Hill/Carrboro’s famous Cat’s Cradle music club, which he still frequents. For years he worked hard to help his immigrant co-workers in the Crook's kitchen: He helped them get green cards, obtain passports for their American-born children, and avoid ICE raids and deportation. For those out of work during the pandemic, he spearheaded efforts to pay rent, put food on the table, and keep the electricity on.