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West Virginia University at Parkersburg 300 Campus Drive Parkersburg WV 26104 Phone:  304-424-8203 | Fax:  304-424-8315

Storytelling, music to be featured in Oct. 20th program.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

Award-winning novelist, folklorist, and musician Mack Samples brings his own brand of storytelling and music to West Virginia University at Parkersburg on Monday, Oct. 20th.  His “Rural West Virginia Culture as Seen by a Rural West Virginian: An Evening with Mack Samples” will be presented at 7:00 p.m. in the college theatre.  In it, he will share the character who inhabits his novels and the music that inspired him. 

Open to the public, the free program will be followed by a reception.

During his many years in higher education at Glenville State College and West Virginia University, Samples devoted himself to learning and passing on West Virginia’s traditional stories and music.  His dedication was rewarded with the 2003 Vandalia Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in the performance, creation, or perpetuation of West Virginia’s traditional arts.

Samples has authored three novels set in West Virginia, most recently "Dust on the Fiddle."  His latest book is "Elk River Ghosts: Tales and Lore," a collection based in part on stories told by his great-aunt, Mayme Samples Cole.  Also a musician, he performs with the Samples Brothers Band and as a soloist.  He is also a square dance caller for the Vandalia Gathering in Charleston and the West Virginia State Folk Festival at Glenville.  This multi-talented artist was president of the Folk Festival for nearly 20 years and has served on the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.  He and his wife, Thelma, currently live on 50 acres near Duck.

The program is part of WVU Parkersburg’s Humanities Speakers Series and is made possible in part by a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council.  More information is available by calling Rebecca Phillips, Speakers Series chair, at 424-8282.