An Evening with the Author

            The community had a chance to meet an award-winning local author last week at the Calhoun County Library.

On Thursday, October 12, 2023, C. Hope Clark visited the Calhoun County Library to discuss her Edisto Island Mysteries series. Hope was born and raised in the South, from Mississippi to South Carolina with a few stints in Alabama and Georgia. The granddaughter of a Mississippi cotton farmer, Hope holds a B.S. in Agriculture with honors from Clemson University and 25 years’ experience with the U. S. Department of Agriculture to include awards for her management, all of which enable her to talk the talk of Carolina Slade, the protagonist in her first series. Her love of writing, however, carried her up the ranks to the ability to retire young, and she left USDA to pen her stories and freelance. Clark is the author of The Carolina Slade Mysteries, The Edisto Island Mysteries, and The Craven County Mysteries. She’s the editor of FundsforWriters, one of the Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers, and published in The Writer Magazine, Writer’s Digest, Guide to Literary Agents, Writer’s Market, and other trade and online publications. C. Hope Clark’s Edisto Island Mystery Series is set entirely at Edisto Beach, South Carolina, her home away from home. Murder on Edisto, the first book in the series, was chosen to represent the state of South Carolina.

Patrons enjoyed sandwiches and cookies as they were intrigued by the author’s engaging stories of how she came up with characters such as female sleuths, and plots that kept readers turning pages. We were enlightened by the fact that her website, FundsforWriters.com, featured weekly publications that reached over 35,000 readers. It was a wonderful event and we were fortunate to have the opportunity to meet Hope.

We are currently planning a local author fair for the spring, so keep an eye out for more information to follow!

We would like to extend our appreciation to C. Hope Clark and the Friends of the Calhoun County Library who made this event possible.