Chinquapin's Ice Cream Bar to host Benson and Taylor Book Signing, Dec. 7

     Local writers Sandy Benson and Carroll S. Taylor will hold a book-signing event on Saturday, December 7, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Tiger’s Store and Chinquapin’s Ice Cream and Soda Bar in Hayesville. 

Sandy Benson

     Benson is a retired forester with a solid background in journalism. From the mid-1970s through 2018, she worked forestry jobs in Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and Nebraska while moonlighting as a reporter, editor, publisher, and freelance non-fiction writer. She has received local and regional writing awards. Her new book, Dear Folks: Letters Home 1943-1946 World War II, contains her curated collection of her father’s letters home from World War II.

     “The collection offers an inside look at military life during wartime through the eyes of a young pilot,” Benson says. “It delves into the nitty gritty of army life, from stateside training camps to British military bases to tent cities in France. Seasoned with the musical hits and popular films of the day and contrasted against a backdrop of family back home during times of sacrifice, rationing, and worry, it will draw readers in and immerse them in history.”

     Benson lives near Warne, NC.

Carroll Taylor

     Taylor is an author, poet, and playwright. With her latest book, she moves from writing young adult novels and children’s books to another genre, Facing Toward the East, her first collection of poems.

     “I’ve been working on many of the poems in my collection for years. I decided it was time to set them free.” In the title poem, she writes, “Ancient people knew and understood, as should we: The East is the direction of eternal hope and grace. Every morning is a rebirth.”

     Taylor’s poems have been published online and in anthologies. As a playwright, she collaborated with the late Raven Chiong to co-write Beneath the Sky and Waters (2022). She also wrote An Appointment with the Year Monger (2024). Both plays were performed at the Peacock Performing Arts Center. 

     A retired educator, she taught for over forty years, from kindergarten to university students. She lives in Hiawassee, Georgia.