Literary Connections - Elevate your bookshelf with our panel of authors!

Welcome to?Literary Connections - Elevate your bookshelf with our panel of authors!?Join us for a fun and engaging event where you'll get the chance to meet and interact with some of your favorite writers. This in person event will take place at?City Club Raleigh, so mark your calendars and get ready for an unforgettable experience. As our Moderator, Crash Gregg, leads us through the event, enjoy hearing from authors Liza Weidle, Carmen Wimberley Cauthen, John Samuel, Tim Brown, and Holly Richard. There will be time after the panel discussion to purchase books and have them signed. Don't miss out on this opportunity to connect with fellow book lovers and discover new literary gems!

Register at this link:?https://www.eventbrite.com/e/literary-connections-elevate-your-bookshelf-with-our-panel-of-authors-tickets-949342217127?aff=oddtdtcreator

Provided Author & Moderator Bios:

Author Liza Weidle?is the FRS Communications CEO – Chief Encouragement Officer. She has more than two decades of experience encouraging and working with nonprofits, business leaders and the community to make an impact that brings return on investment. Liza stays on top of the hottest social media and content trends. She is known as an influencer who builds relationships with thought leaders, maintains an active blog, and interacts across social media to leverage initiatives that make the world a better place. Liza has an unique perspective on media that comes from working as the NBC-17 Education Reporter, News and Observer Columnist, and Talent Acquisition Officer for Curtis Media Group. Liza's columns were published for years in The News and Observer and some are captured in her book, "The Truth about Parenting: Navigating the Elementary Years." Liza is also the author of "Grandpa's Whit and Wisdom," a collection of essays and sermons that are as timely today as they were when written in the early 1900s.

Author Tim Brown?is an award-winning journalist and book author, most recently as a national baseball columnist at Yahoo Sports for 13+ years. In 2017, received the top award as national beat writer by the Associated Press Sports Editors. As a sports columnist for the past 30-plus years at Yahoo Sports and the Los Angeles Times, with a national reputation for writing award-winning human interest stories, wrote features and stories on everyone from Mike Trout to Derek Jeter to Kim Ng, covered cultural issues in sports from steroids to the under representation of Black baseball players, and some of the local efforts to elevate underprivileged youth players, as well as women rising through the ranks of the league. Additionally, earlier in my career, covered the Los Angeles Lakers for the Los Angeles Times for five years, writing hundreds of stories and front-page features about the storied championship team in the era of Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.

Author Holly Richard?began her career in the disability field in the early 1990's and has served in executive leadership roles for several nonprofits in North Carolina for the past 22 years. In 2012, she became President and CEO of tlc, (formerly the Tammy Lynn Center) in Raleigh. After Holly's son Derek passed away from Glioblastoma in April 2019 at the age of 28, she stepped away from the TLC in November of that year to deal with the devastating loss of her son and to be with family as they began their grief journey. Holly spent three long years, writing a book about the death of her son and the grief that followed and became a first-time author, publishing her book in November 2021, One Hundred and Twenty-Six Days, The Unthinkable Journey. Holly is the Special Projects Advisor for The Arc of NC, a 70+ year old statewide advocacy nonprofit organization supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Holly was recently appointed to the Advisory Board of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke Hospital in Durham where her son received treatment. Holly dedicates her personal time and service to advance brain tumor research and funding at the state and national levels while also helping people who have experienced the unimaginable and who are navigating their grief journey.

Author Carmen Wimberley Cauthen?learned the value of history and family legacy growing up as a child. A Black native of Raleigh, she has always recognized that only some of the stories have been told. While writing the Journal for the North Carolina House of Representatives, she realized that truth is many sided and what is generally shared is only what is comfortable to hear. Her work as a family historian, racial equity advocate, and truthteller is helping to raise awareness of the roots of erasure in the Black community's history. Her main desire is to record the truth of all history as opposed to only one side. She reminds us all that "my history, our history" is one of the most valuable lessons that we can learn.

During his college years,?Author John G Samuel?was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition known as Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), informed that he was going blind with no cure in sight. He concealed this from friends, professors, and employers for 17 years. Believing that someone who was blind could not possibly live in his hometown of Cary, North Carolina, he left. His quest for a career and love took him around the globe to places such as Bangalore, New York, Douala, Kampala, and Washington. Yet, it was a serendipitous encounter that eventually led him back home, where he learned to accept his disability and find what he had been seeking all along—a sense of belonging. He wishes to share his story as a catalyst for change. He firmly believes that sharing his experiences can foster empathy and understanding in others. Through his storytelling, he aims to humanize the concept of inclusivity and demonstrate the incredible outcomes that stem from fostering a sense of belonging.

Our Moderator, Crash Gregg, is publisher for Triangle Downtowner Magazine, President of CSG Consulting, and an established residential/commercial real estate broker with Sotheby's International Realty. He is always looking for new ways to save time and money by combining new technologies with existing business methods. Crash is a dedicated champion for local arts and nonprofits. He proudly serves on the boards for the State Capitol Foundation, City of Raleigh Museum, The Women's Center, Glenwood South Collective, and Preservation Raleigh.