For the History Lovers & Fans of Historical Fiction

Or, for you history dorks like me ...

First, here's a new, FREE online course offered by coursera and Bruce Holsinger, an author and professor at the University of Virginia. It's called "Plagues, Witches and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction," and it features several wonderful historical novelists and their work, including two of my favorites: Pulitzer Prize-winner Geraldine Brooks (People of the Book, March, etc), and bestselling author Katherine Howe (The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, the House of Velvet and Glass, etc). These novelists will be virtually "visiting" the class.

I have no free time, of course, but this is too good to pass up. My critical thesis for my MFA in Writing program, which I completed last semester (loooong sigh of relief) was a study of the importance of place in historical fiction; in it, I utilized Brooks and her work. I am a big fan. And Howe's The Physick Book ... is a great favorite, too. I reread it over the Spring, and I swear it just keeps getting better.

For more info about the course, click here.

1760 map of the Cherokee country

Second, if you live in the Western North Carolina or Upper South Carolina area (or, heck, North Georgia, too), and you're interested in the Cherokee Indians, I'm teaching a course at Brevard College this Fall that's right up your alley. Called "Cherokee History in the South: the Colonial Period to the Revolution," it explores the fascinating history and culture of the mysterious and once-powerful Cherokee Indians along the Appalachian frontier. Classes will be held once a week for 5 weeks at Brevard College; they're offered through BC's Creekside continuing education programs.

I based the course on the bevy of research I conducted for Keowee Valley, a novel one reviewer called "an exquisitely crafted love letter to a land and culture swallowed up by an encroaching civilization and inescapable change."

Sorry, that was totally a plug for my novel. I couldn't help myself.

For more information, click here.