It’s Valentine’s week, I am giving a shout out to some of my
favorite VHP authors whom I feel privileged to have met and grown to love. They don’t know I’m doing this…it’s my secret
surprise Valentine to each of them. You’ve
met Smoky Trudeau Zeidel, Charmaine Gordon, Melinda Clayton , Chelle Cordero, Malcolm Campbell and Marilyn Celeste Morris
and L.E.Harvey . The next author I’d like
to introduce is Robert Hays.
Robert Hays has authored and co-authored numerous books; Circles in the Water, The Life and Death of
Lizzie Morris, The Baby River Angel, and
Blood on the Roses, to name a few.
One of my favorite books by Robert Hays is, Blood on the Roses. It's set in Tennessee, in 1955 at the height of America's concern over the murder of a black teenager by white racists, and tells the tale of a reporter from Baltimore who is sent to the South to cover the story. It is a compelling story of terrible acts of discrimination and a garden of roses that holds the key.
Robert has been a
newspaper reporter, public relations writer, magazine editor, and university
professor and administrator. A native of Illinois, he taught in Texas and
Missouri and retired in 2008 from a long journalism teaching career at the
University of Illinois. He has spent a great deal of time in South Carolina,
the home state of his wife, Mary, and is a member of the South Carolina Writers
Workshop. His publications include academic journal and popular periodical
articles and eight previous books, one released in paperback under a new title.
Robert and Mary live in Champaign, Illinois. They have two sons and a grandson
and share a cat named Eddie with the family next door. Robert says, “it’s a long story!”
Since I’m originally from Missouri and Robert spent much
time there, I’d like to wish him a special Show-Me-State Valentine’s Day! J
I have "Blood on the Roses" on the shelf beside me just waiting for me!
ReplyDeleteFor a novelist and journalist, SHOW ME is good.
ReplyDeleteMalcolm
Set in Tennessee, my home state, I'll have to put it on my TBR.
ReplyDelete