Robert Gwaltney, author on the "Cicada Tree"

Published: March 24, 2022, 3:35 a.m.

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Bio: A graduate of Florida State University, I presently reside in Atlanta Georgia with my partner. By day, I serve as Vice President of Easter Seals North Georgia, Inc., a non-profit organization strengthening children and their families at the most critical times in their development. Through my non-profit work, I am a champion for early childhood literacy. In all the hours between, I write. Raised alongside three feral, younger brothers in the rash-inducing, subtropical climate of Cairo Georgia, I am a lifelong resident of the South. A circumstance, no doubt, leaving an indelible mark upon my voice as a writer. Aside from sense of place, my writing is influenced and inspired by the literary work of others. As a boy, it was with great obsession, I turned the well-worn pages of Charlotte Bront\\xeb\\u2019s, Jane Eyre. Wuthering Heights? Yes, another source of adoration. And Truman Capote\\u2019s debut novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, I admire with equal reverence along with everything ever written by Tennessee Williams. Charles Dickens\\u2019 Miss Havisham is one of my all-time favorite characters. Many hours I spent playing her, wrapped in an old lace tablecloth borrowed from my mother\\u2019s linen closet\\u2014my tattered, makeshift wedding dress. Locked away in my boyhood room, I haunted the place, plotting revenge, shooing rats from the wedding cake. \\u201cBreak their hearts my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy,\\u201d I would whisper into the impressionable ear of my lovely Estella. Break their hearts. As an adult, my literary palate is diverse, reading everyone from the sublime Michael Cunningham to the gifted Jesmyn Ward to the incomparable Ron Rash. Though my tastes have evolved through the years, one constant remains: the impact of literature and art and music upon my writing. And my unrelenting quest to make and find beauty in this world.

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https://robertlgwaltney.com

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VOX VOMITUS: Sometimes, it\'s not what goes right in the writing process, it\'s what goes horribly wrong. Host/Literary horror novelist Jennifer Anne Gordon with help from her co-host/author Allison Martine, chat with some of the best authors of the day.

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www.jenniferannegordon.com

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www.afictionalhubbard.com

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