Literature

by Powell, William S. In early North Carolina an almanac and a Bible were often the only publications owned by a family. North Carolina residents relied on almanacs for information on such things as planting seasons, [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Sparrow, W. Keats. Views through Pen and Ink: North Carolina's Antebellum Literature Records an Era By W. Keats Sparrow Reprinted with permission from the Tar Heel Junior Historian, Fall 1996. Tar Heel Junior [...] (from Tar Heel Junior Historian, NC Museum of History.)

by Anderson, Jean B. Arator, or the Plowman, was an agricultural periodical published monthly by its editor Thomas J. Lemay from 1855 to 1857. Lemay had been prevailed on by the North Carolina State Agricultural Society [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Rankin, Richard. Atticus was the pseudonym employed by the author of a scathing, 4,500-word letter printed on the front page of the 7 Nov. 1771 issue of the Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg). Atticus accused North [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Brown, Joe Exum. Bernice Bienenstock Furniture Library in High Point is considered to be one of the largest and most comprehensive furniture publications libraries in the world. Founded in 1970, the collection and [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by . The North Carolina Award, the state's highest civilian honor, was established by the General Assembly in 1961 and the first award-winners were honored in 1964. Artist Romare Bearden was the first [...] (from NC Office of Archives and History.)

by DiNome, William G., Ansley, John F. The growth of book publishing in North Carolina came late relative to other states, primarily because of the state's early agricultural economy. Most books owned in colonial North Carolina were [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Broadsides, or broadsheets, single sheets of paper with printed text on one or both sides, were used in England as early as 1575 to communicate various kinds of information. The earliest known [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Williams, Wiley J., Kenzer, Robert C. Business directories have been published in North Carolina since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Many extant directories provide a valuable contemporary portrait of the business community of [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by McGrath, Eileen. Between 1886 and 1923, industrialist Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie Corporation donated funds for more than 1,600 public library buildings in the United States. Ten of those libraries were [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Williams, Wiley J., Jordan, Weymouth T., Jr. Civil War Rosters by Weymouth T. Jordan Jr. and Wiley J. Williams, 2006 A Roster of North Carolina Troops in the War between the States, by Confederate veteran John Wheeler Moore, was an [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Faulkner, Ronnie W. The Clansman, a novel recounting the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the so-called redemption of the South by the Ku Klux Klan, was written by North Carolina author Thomas Dixon Jr. (1864-1946) and [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. "Clark's Regimental Histories" is the popular title for the five-volume Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War, 1861-1865, edited by Walter Clark and [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Cain, Robert J. The basic documents of North Carolina's history from 1662 to 1790 were reproduced in two state-sponsored publications, the Colonial Records of North Carolina and the State Records of North Carolina. [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Mazzocchi, Jay. From colonial times, many North Carolinians have felt compelled to record the events and emotions surrounding their religious journeys. Most conversion narratives, autobiographical accounts of often [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Whichard, Willis P. "Creed of a Rioter" was a political essay penned by James Iredell in the fall of 1776. Iredell's earlier essays had attacked Britain's wrongdoings in dealing with the American colonies. The colonies, [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Hunter, Crystal. Born in Wilmington, N.C. in 1785, to a free mother and an enslaved father, David Walker, although deemed free by law, was no stranger to the “avaricious” (a term he uses throughout the Appeal to [...] (from NCpedia.)

by Elliott, Robert N., Jr. James Davis, north Carolina's first printer, was born in Virginia. The exact location of his birth is not known, but in 1745 he was living in Williamsburg. He probably learned his trade under William [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Carroll, Grady L. E., Sr. John Dickins, Methodist clergyman and pioneer book agent, was born to John and Elizabeth Aston Dickins in London. Educated there and, according to tradition, at Eton, he became "well acquainted with [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Inscoe, John C. Dred, published in 1856, was Harriet Beecher Stowe's much-anticipated sequel to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) in which she sought to further fan the flames of antislavery sentiment. The book was a [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Durant Bible by William S. Powell, 2006 See also: Durant (Durand, Duren), George; Durant (Duren), John; Durant (Durand, Duren), Ann Marwood The Durant Bible, printed in London in 1599, [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Cecelski, David S. Mary Everett belongs to one of the state's oldest book clubs, the End of the Century Book Club in Greenville. For its 100th anniversary celebration last year, Everett studied the club's minutes, [...] (from Listening to History, News and Observer.)

by Hill, Michael. The Federal Writers' Project (FWP), a New Deal program that from 1935 to 1942 hired unemployed newspapermen, librarians, historians, novelists, and poets, was a component of the Works Progress [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Mitchell, Ted, McFee, Philip, McFee, Michael, McMillan, Douglas J. Fiction by Philip McFee and Ted Mitchell, 2006; Revised October 2022; Revised by SLNC Government and Heritage Library, June 2023 Additional research provided by Michael McFee and Douglas J. [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Mitchell, Ted, McFee, Philip, McFee, Michael, McMillan, Douglas J. As the twentieth century dawned, North Carolina fiction writers continued to weave impressive historical narratives, often throwing light on the distressing political, racial, and personal divisions [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Mitchell, Ted, McFee, Philip, McFee, Michael, McMillan, Douglas J. The portrayal of the relationships, perceptions, and struggles of "common" North Carolinians-particularly in small towns ranging from the mountains to the coast-became the focus of the works of many [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Inscoe, John C. A Fool's Errand, by Albion W. Tourgée, is the most revealing and popular fictional assessment of southern Reconstruction and the reasons it failed. Tourgée, an Ohioan who came to know the South [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Parramore, Thomas C. "Jesse Holmes, the Fool-Killer," was the name given by journalist Charles Napoleon Bonaparte Evans to a fictional character well known to Piedmont North Carolinians in the mid-nineteenth century. [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Jones, H. G. Histories documenting North Carolina's past and present were written by North Carolinians and others beginning in the early nineteenth century. Through the years, the purpose, focus, and style of [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Jones, H. G. Histories by H. G. Jones, 2006 Part 1: Introduction; Part 2: Colonial and State Records and the First Generation of Professional Historians; Part 3: Twentieth-Century Achievements and New [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Jones, H. G. Histories by H. G. Jones, 2006 Part 1: Introduction; Part 2: Colonial and State Records and the First Generation of Professional Historians; Part 3: Twentieth-Century Achievements and New [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Butler, Lindley S. History of the Dividing Line refers to the lively account, written by Virginia commissioner William Byrd II, of the North Carolina-Virginia boundary line that was surveyed by a joint commission in [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Rudersdorf, Amy, Agan, Kelly. History of the North Carolina Awards by Amy Rudersdorf, N.C. Government & Heritage Library, 2012; Kelly Agan, N.C. Government & Heritage Library, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, [...] (from NCpedia.)

by Mazzocchi, Jay. Humor has played a distinctive role in the lives of North Carolinians from the days of the earliest British explorations to the region. As much as any other aspect of human life, humor can be [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Faulkner, Ronnie W. The Impending Crisis of the South by Ronnie W. Faulkner, 2006 The Impending Crisis of the South, by Rowan County born abolitionist Hinton Rowan Helper (1829-1909), was published by A. B. [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Yellin, Jean Fagan. Harriet Jacobs by Jean Fagan Yellin, Revised March 2022 by NC Government and Heritage Library  See also: Harriet Ann Jacobs for K-8 students February 11, 1813 [or 1815] - March 7, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Beam, Jeffery. The Jargon Society, one of the oldest and most prestigious small presses in the country, was founded in 1951 at Black Mountain College by Jonathan Williams, an Asheville native and student at the [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Farnham, Mary. Randall Jarrell, poet, critic, and teacher, was born in Nashville, Tenn., the son of Owen and Anna Campbell Jarrell. Owing to his parents' divorce, much of his childhood through 1927 was spent in [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Selden, Samuel. Frederick Henry Koch, university professor of dramatic art and promoter of the American folk play, was born in Covington, Ky., in a family of nine boys and one girl. His father, August William Koch, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by . Charles Bishop Kuralt, award-winning newspaper, radio, and television journalist and best-selling author, was born 10 September 1934 in Wilmington, N.C., the first child of Wallace Hamilton Kuralt, [...] (from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries.)

by Williams, Wiley J. "Land of the Sky" is a slogan applied to the Mountain region of western North Carolina. It was adopted from the title of a novel, "The Land of the Sky"; or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways (1876), [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Mason, Julian. The Land We Love was a magazine published monthly in Charlotte from May 1866 to March 1869. Founded and edited by ex-Confederate general Daniel H. Hill, it reflected his interests, tastes, and [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by York, Maury. The North Carolina General Assembly established the State Library in 1812 as a collection of public documents-chiefly laws and legislative journals-for use by legislators and other state government [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Parker, Roy, Jr., Caldwell, Martha B. Literary Awards by Martha Belle Caldwell and Roy Parker Jr., 2006 See also: North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, Roanoke-Chowan Group, Sir Walter Raleigh Award for [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Holden, Charles J., Cherry, Kevin, McFee, Philip. North Carolina writers and scholars support a number of literary publications in the state and have for decades. The Carolina Quarterly, one of the oldest and most influential university literary [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Albright, Alex. The Literary Lantern was a column by Addison Hibbard published in several North Carolina newspapers beginning in 1923. An English professor and dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Dumoulin, Christine. History is full of mysteries. But perhaps none have held more interest or spawned more theories than John White’s disappearing 1587 colonists. Thousands of books, documents, letters, essays, and [...] (from Tar Heel Junior Historian, NC Museum of History.)

by Murray, Elizabeth D. R. Matilda Berkely; or, Family Anecdotes, by British-born Winifred Marshall Gales (1761-1839), is considered the first novel published in North Carolina written by a resident of the state. The author's [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Faulkner, Ronnie W. "Mummy Letters" by Ronnie W. Faulkner, 2006 "Mummy Letters," four articles written from 1 Feb. to 6 Mar. 1886 by journalist Walter Hines Page for Josephus Daniels's State Chronicle [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Hegyi, Laura. Natural Gardens of North Carolina (1932) was written by Bertram Whittier Wells, chair of the Department of Botany at North Carolina State College (modern-day North Carolina State University) from [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Simpson, Marcus B., Jr. First published in Dublin in 1737, John Brickell's Natural History of North-Carolina was ostensibly written from firsthand observations made by Brickell during his sojourn in North Carolina. The [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Simpson, Marcus B., Jr. John Lawson's A New Voyage to Carolina, published for the first time in 1709, is among the most comprehensive accounts of North American Indian culture and natural history written during the American [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. The North Carolina Booklet was a numbered and dated series of pamphlets published in Raleigh by the North Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution. Begun under the leadership of the society's [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Jones, H. G. The North Carolina Literary and Historical Association was formed on 23 Oct. 1900 for the purposes of the "collection, preservation, production, and dissemination" of North Carolina literature and [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Buckner, Sally. North Carolina Literature Looking at North Carolina through a Lens of Words See also: Fiction; Poetry By Dr. Sally Buckner Reprinted with permission from the Tar Heel Junior Historian, Fall [...] (from Tar Heel Junior Historian, NC Museum of History.)

by Williams, Wiley J. The North Carolina Manual was first published in 1874 by the North Carolina secretary of state as a volume of nearly 400 pages entitled Legislative Manual and Political Register of the State of North [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Mammen, Edwin H. The North Carolina Reader, published in 1851 by Calvin H. Wiley, the state's first superintendent of public schools, was the first in a series of textbooks prepared for use in the public school [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Jones, H. G. The North Carolina Writers Conference (NCWC), the oldest general organization of writers in the state, was inspired by a suggestion by novelist Inglis Fletcher and an invitation from publisher [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Williams, Wiley J. The North Carolina Writers' Network (NCWN), founded in 1985, is a nonprofit organization with some 1,800 members, making it one of the nation's largest independent literary organizations. NCWN's [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Jones, H. G. The North Caroliniana Society was founded in 1975 by H. G. Jones, William S. Powell, and Louis M. Connor Jr. for the promotion of knowledge and appreciation of North Carolina's historical, cultural, [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Mammen, Edwin H. The North-Carolina Magazine; or, Universal Intelligencer, was the first magazine in North Carolina. It was published by printer James Davis in New Bern during a period when his North-Carolina [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Mammen, Edwin H. The "Numbers of Carlton" were 22 essays "addressed to the People of North Carolina on a Central Rail-road through the State" written by Joseph Caldwell, the first president of the University of North [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Mitchell, Thornton W. Discontent began to develop in the newly created North Carolina counties of Granville, Orange, and Rowan around 1760. This unhappiness was based, in part, on dissatisfaction with the Granville [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Williams, Jeaneane. O. Henry Festival by Jeaneane Williams, 2006 See also: Porter, William Sidney The O. Henry Festival, held annually in Greensboro in April, was founded in 1985 to commemorate the life and [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Hallman, Speed. Our State magazine's name and subtitle, Down Home in North Carolina, capture its mission of describing the state's people, places, history, and folklore. Newspaperman and radio broadcaster Carl [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Walser, Richard. Guy Owen, teacher and writer, was born of Welsh and English ancestry in the Elkton community near Clarkton (called "Clayton" in his fiction) in Bladen County ("Cape Fear County"), the oldest of four [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Craton, Lillian E. On 11 May 1935 the General Assembly of North Carolina passed a resolution empowering the governor to appoint a poet laureate for the state. The position remained empty until 1948, when outgoing [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by McFee, Philip, Kress, Kelly. Although their acclaim has varied and their notability fluctuated, North Carolina poets have always been active, and the poetic drive has always been present in the state. Like its prose counterpart, [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by McFee, Philip, Kress, Kelly. Poetry by Kelly Kress and Philip McFee, 2006 Part 1: North Carolina Poets of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries; Part 2: Modern-Day North Carolina Poets Modern-Day North Carolina [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Middlesworth, Chester Paul, Pyatt, Timothy D. In 1749 North Carolina's provincial government brought James Davis from Virginia to become the colony's public printer and establish the first printing press in the then-capital city of New Bern. [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Brabham, Robin. The Protestant Episcopal Church Publishing Association was founded in Charlotte in 1864 by John Wilkes, a businessman and prominent Episcopal layman. The likely catalyst for the establishment of the [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Cross, Jerry L., Stick, David, Rains, Rusty, Berkley, Anne M., Blalock, Faye Terres, Zeisel, Katherine. Anglican clergyman Thomas Bray is commonly credited with establishing the first public library in North Carolina. Bray arrived in the colony to recruit clergy to return to Maryland but found the [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Parker, Roy, Jr. The Roanoke-Chowan Group of Writers and Allied Artists began in 1948 as an informal gathering of writers, musicians, painters, and patrons of the arts called together by retired banker Gilbert T. [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Malone, E. T., Jr. Sea-Gift by E. T. Malone Jr., 2006 Sea-Gift, an 1873 novel by Edwin Wiley Fuller (1848-76) of Louisburg, presented a lively and romantic picture of student life in Chapel Hill. [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Jones, H. G. The Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction was established in 1952 by the Historical Book Club of North Carolina to recognize the year's best book of fiction, drama, short stories, or poetry written by [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Woodard, John R., Jr. Benjamin Franklin Sledd, educator and poet, was born in Bedford County, Va., the son of William Edgar and Arabella Hobson Sledd. Members of both the Hobson and Sledd families had fought in all the [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Glover, Erma Williams. Thaddeus Garland Stem, Jr., poet, essayist, newspaper columnist, and short-story writer, the son of Thaddeus G., attorney at law, and Hallie Mayes Stem, was born in his parents' home at 104 East [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Bowers, Thomas A. Andrew Steuart, Wilmington printer and journalist, was born in Belfast, Ireland, where he learned the printing trade from James MacGee. In 1758 he went to Philadelphia and established a printing shop [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Swann's Revisal by William S. Powell, 2006 Swann's Revisal is the familiar name of the first book published in the colony of North Carolina. The book-whose partial official title [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Willard, George-Anne. The Textbook Commission originated in the early twentieth-century efforts of Governor Charles B. Aycock and other leaders to raise educational levels in North Carolina. In the beginning, only rural [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by McKown, Harry W., Jr. Late on the night of March 10, 1948, a fire started in a kitchen of the main building of Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. Spreading rapidly through a dumbwaiter shaft, flames reached [...] (from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries.)

by Powell, William S. Travels of William Bartram is the familiar title by which the 522-page volume by naturalist William Bartram (1739-1823) is generally referred. The work documents his four-year journey through large [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Craton, Lillian E. The University of North Carolina Press is a separately incorporated, not-for-profit publishing company affiliated with the University of North Carolina and located in Chapel Hill. It was founded on [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. "Vale of Humility between Two Mountains of Conceit" is a phrase describing North Carolina that originated from a speech given by Mary Oates Spratt Van Landingham on 6 Mar. 1900. That day, she spoke [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Yanchisin, D. A. Leonard Charles Van Noppen, poet, literary expert, and translator, was born at Wemeldinge, Zeeland, Holland. His parents, Cornelius Martin and Johanna Maria Cappon Van Noppen, immigrated to the [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Walker's Appeal, actually titled Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, was an emotionally charged, powerful antislavery pamphlet published by black Wilmington native David Walker in September [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Williams, Wiley J. Wreath from the Woods of Carolina by Wiley J. Williams, 2006 Painter, musician, sculptor, and writer Mary Ann Bryan Mason (1802-81) was the first woman in North Carolina known to have [...] (from Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Wyche, Richard Thomas by William S. Powell, 1996 25 July 1867–5 May 1930 Richard Thomas Wyche, lecturer and storyteller, was born in Henderson, the son of Benjamin and Sarah Elizabeth [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)