In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

FEATURED AUTHOR—MICHAEL McFEE Lucky Mornings Michael Chitwood It's 1986, and I've just moved to North Carolina. I'm getting ready for work, still having to remind myself where I've put things in my new apartment. It's my first week in town, but I've found a public radio station to keep me company in my morning rituals. It's the usual Morning Edition fare. But suddenly there's an unfamiliar voice. It's not Bob Edwards or Cokie Roberts, but it is pleasant and assured and it's talking about a book of poetry. I stop and listen, giving the voice all my attention. A book of poetry being reviewed on NPR! I think I said "Sweet" out loud. At the end of a very insightful review, the voice concluded with "This is Michael McFee for WUNC." I had just been welcomed to my new home state by a man who would later become my good friend and one of the best and most helpful readers of my own work. Since that happy introduction I have become a great fan of Michael's fine poetry, but I want to use my space in these pages to briefly mention one of Michael's other great services to literature, particularly the literature of North Carolina and Appalachia—his work as a book reviewer. From 1980 to 1993, Michael was the Book Editor for Raleigh's Spectator magazine. During roughly the same period he was the book reviewer for WUNC-FM, Chapel Hill's acclaimed and far-reaching public radio station. He has also worked for NPR's Weekend Edition, Monitor Radio, American Public Radio, USA Today, Newsday and numerous regional journals and magazines. In those many capacities, he produced more than 650 book reviews, a staggering total even for a lover of literature like Michael. What is even more impressive than the quantity of the reviews is their quality. Michael's reviews are learned without being overly academic; they are clever but never showy and, most importantly, they are always about the book under review and not about the reviewer's pet peeves. I've never seen Michael use a review to grind a personal ax. But the more winning quality of Michael's reviews is that they are nearly always positive. Rather than wasting precious column inches or air time trashing books he didn't like, Michael sought out books that pleased him and then extolled their virtues for his readers and 27 listeners. That's not to say that Michael is a critical cream puff. Quite the contrary. He knows good writing, and he can tell you why bad writing is bad. It's just that he chose to spend his time with the good and let the bad fend for itself. That is a rare quality indeed in a business that is often the province of gripers and negative know-it-alls. For more than a decade, Michael introduced people to good books, and I know that he brought readers to writers who deserved the attention. What a service that is to both writer and reader. What a service to literature in general. I am most grateful, I have to say, for Michael's poetry, but I want to thank him for all those lucky mornings when through print or on the air he said, "Here's a good book I think you will enjoy." What a great thing for a friend to do. 28 ...

pdf

Share