PRESS RELEASE

Author Mary Monroe To Visit the North Birmingham Library

September 7, 2007, Birmingham--Bestselling author Mary Monroe will visit the North Birmingham Library to sign copies of her new book, Deliver Me from Evil. Monroe has built a solid fan base with her popular books about strong, memorable characters residing in the familiar small-town setting of her childhood.

Born in Toxey, Alabama, Monroe began writing at an early age and had a passion for literature that was not always understood by her family. She became the only one of four siblings to graduate from high school. Her family wanted her to marry young and settle for a stable post office career, but, luckily for readers, Monroe had a mind of her own and a persistence for not giving up on her dreams.

As a teenager, Monroe honed her skills writing short stories for True Confessions-style magazines. With titles such as “My Husband and His Mistress Tried to Kill Me with Voodoo,” she soon had enthusiastic readers clamoring for more. When an editor suggested she try a career as a novelist, Monroe eventually did just that, penning her first novel, The Upper Room. However, it was many rejection slips later before this story about a giant woman named Ruby who steals her friend’s stillborn baby and flees to a Florida swamp was published in 1985. It would be another fifteen years before Monroe published her most popular novel, God Don’t Like Ugly.

The rise of successful African American writers such as Terry McMillan in the 1990s meant that Monroe’s books were promoted more aggressively. This success allowed Monroe to ditch her other jobs and write full time. The woman who has been compared to Zora Neale Hurston is now living her dreams of becoming a writer and traveling the world.

Details
Where: North Birmingham Library
When: Thursday, September 20
Time: 12 noon