Lunchtime lecture spotlights Tennessee butterflies

Award-winning writer and photographer, Rita Venable, will talk about and sign copies of her book Butterflies of Tennessee during a lunchtime lecture at the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center Wednesday, April 8. The event will begin at 11:30 a.m., and is free to the public.

Butterflies of Tennessee, published in 2014, is a collection of full color photos and descriptions of all 124 species of butterflies found in Tennessee. During her talk, Venable will share which butterflies you are seeing, whether you are walking in the woods or a formal garden. Beyond identifications, she’ll also show how to invite butterflies into your home gardens and tips on butterfly-watching.

Venable has published numerous articles and photographs in literary publications, newspapers and magazines including American Butterflies, American Gardener, Backpacker, Discover the Outdoors and National Wildlife Online. She has won awards in writing and photography from the Tennessee Outdoor Writers Association and Southeastern Outdoor Press Association. Venable also served as an artist-in-residence in creative writing for five years with the Tennessee Arts Commission.

As an assistant biologist with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, she has conducted biological surveys in state parks and natural areas across the state. Venable has worked to develop butterfly checklists for individual parks, led field trips, and conducted training sessions for naturalists and spoke at wildflower festivals and other state park events.

She has served as editor of Butterfly Gardener, a publication of the North American Butterfly Association and founded the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association. She most enjoys connecting people with the butterflies that live around them.

For more information about the lunch lecture and Venable’s visit, contact the Center at 731-779-9000 or info@westtnheritage.com.

Books will be available for $24.95. 

For more information about Venable and Butterflies of Tennessee, visit ritavenable.com.

New book spotlights famous travel writer born in Brownsville

Richard Halliburton was an adventurer and travel writer who became one of the world's most famous celebrities during the first decades of the 20th century. R. Scott Williams explores Halliburton's dramatic rise to fame in his first book about the explorer, "The Forgotten Adventures of Richard Halliburton, from Tennessee to Timbuktu." Meet the author and learn more about the story during a book launch and signing Thursday, November 13, 5:45 p.m., at the Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville, Tenn.

Williams looks at Halliburton's life and the cultural changes taking place in the United States that contributed to his phenomenal success and tragic failures. Halliburton was born in Brownsville in 1900 and raised in Memphis. At the age of 19, he left home to lead an extraordinary life of adventure.

Interest in Halliburton began to develop while Williams was doing research on his own family. “For several years, I’ve been researching and writing about my ancestors who, since the early 1830s, mostly lived in and around Haywood County, Tennessee," he explains. "My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were all born and lived there. Richard Halliburton’s ancestors were from the same area so I ran across the Halliburton name many times and my curiosity took me down the path of learning more about Richard."

Against the backdrop of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, Halliburton's exploits around the globe made him an internationally-known celebrity and the most famous travel writer and lecturer of his day. From climbing Mount Olympus in Greece, to swimming the Panama Canal, to literally flying all the way to Timbuktu, Halliburton experienced and wrote about adventures that others never even believed possible. He disappeared in 1939 during a typhoon in the Pacific Ocean.

"Halliburton's  parents, Wesley and Nelle, actually met and married in Brownsville, Tennessee where Wesley was farming family land and Nelle was teaching at the Brownsville Women’s College," says Williams. "Early in Richard Halliburton’s life, the family moved to Memphis, which is where I also grew up.”

During his life, Halliburton maintained close ties to his family in Memphis and returned home frequently. Shortly before his death, Halliburton's father, Wesley, donated the family's artifacts to Rhodes College. Williams worked closely with the library archivist and was able to use scrapbooks created by Wesley as a basis for his work on Halliburton.

The book features never-before-published photos, rare letters, memorabilia and documents and photos of artifacts that provide a glimpse into the life of Halliburton. Several photos will be on display during the Book Launch and Signing November 13.

For more information about the book, visit www.HalliburtonBook.com. The book is available at HistoryPress.net and Amazon.com on November 5. To reserve a copy of the book ($19.99) for the signing or for more information about the event, call the Delta Heritage Center at 731-779-9000.

About R. Scott Williams
Originally from Memphis, R. Scott Williams is an advertising, marketing, and public relations executive with a passion for researching and recording unpublished stories of the early American south. After receiving his degree in journalism from the University of Memphis, he worked a variety of jobs until landing at Graceland where he helped take care of business for the king for more than twelve years. Currently, he leads the marketing and communication initiatives at the Newseum, a museum of news and history in Washington, D.C.

Hopson to sign new book at Delta Heritage Center

The West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center, in Brownsville, Tenn., will host authors and book signing for I Do…Every Day, Words of Wisdom for Newlyweds and Not so Newlyweds, Saturday May 14, from 2 - 4 p.m.

I Do…Every Day, Words of Wisdom for Newlyweds and Not so Newlyweds, is the newest book of devotions from Haywood County native Dr. Cynthia Bond Hopson. This time she has teamed up with her husband, Roger, and they’re on a mission to help newlyweds and couples revitalize marriage as the treasure God intended.

In the 31 reflections released May 1 from Abingdon Press, the Hopsons offer straight talk, ask tough questions that may cause a little blushing (don’t worry, nothing X-rated), and tell stories that will touch readers where they live, inspiring them to be equal partners, friends and lovers. It is for anyone who has ever said “I do,” “I will,” or “I messed up” and even those who are getting ready to walk down the aisle.

This is Hopson’s fifth book and it joins her popular titles, Wiggle Tales, a collection of her columns from the Brownsville States Graphic, an account of media coverage of voter registration in Haywood County, Times of Challenge and Controversy, and her two books of devotions for women, Bad Hair Days, Rainy Days and Mondays, and Too Many Irons in the Fire and They’re All Smoking!

Hopson is the daughter of Mrs. Alvis M. Bond of Stanton and the late John A. Bond Jr., Emma and Carey Bowles. She is assistant general secretary for the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Higher Education and Ministry’s Black College Fund. This is her first writing venture with her husband, a United Methodist minister who serves as executive assistant to the Nashville Area bishop. They live in Lebanon, Tenn.

Authors Cynthia Bond Hopson & Roger Hopson