MAGNOLIA— Tickets are now available for a luncheon to feature author and Arkansas native Carla Killough McClafferty at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 7, in Salon C of the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center Grand Hall at Southern Arkansas University. The luncheon is sponsored by Magale Library.
McClafferty grew up in the small farming community of Tomberlin where her parents farmed rice and soybeans. Her elementary school did not have a library but instead used bookshelves under the windows on one wall of the classroom. “To this day, libraries fill me with awe and appreciation,” she said.
After high school, she graduated from Baptist Medical Center School of Radiologic Technology and worked in local hospitals and clinics. Although McClafferty always loved to read, she did not begin to write books until after the death of her youngest son, Corey. The story of her journey through grief became the subject of her first book, “Forgiving God.” Next, McClafferty turned her attention to writing nonfiction books for young readers, publishing “The Head Bone’s Connected to the Neck Bone: The Weird, Wacky, and Wonderful X-ray” and “Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium.”
McClafferty’s most recent book – and the subject of her talk at the lunch on April 7 – is “In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry.” She will discuss a little-known chapter in history when Varian Fry traveled to France in order to rescue refugees trapped by the Nazis. Leading a double life, this debonair American saved the lives of more than 2,000 people. Her book has been recognized as an Orbis Pictus Recommended book, Cooperative Children’s Book Council Choices list, Society of School Librarians International Book Award Honor Book, and has received starred reviews in Booklist and Jewish Book World.
Today, McClafferty is a freelance author and speaker. She has presented programs for a wide variety of audiences in Arkansas as well as in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington D.C., Chicago, and Marseilles, France. She and her husband Pat live in North Little Rock. They have three children, Ryan, Brittney and the late Corey McClafferty.
There will be a book signing immediately following McClafferty’s presentation. Tickets are available for $8 through Tuesday, March 30, by contacting Debbie Sehon at 235-5068 or dgsehon@saumag.edu. Active members of Friends of Magale Library will receive free tickets upon request.
Story by Chelsea Spurlock, SAU Communications
