By: Denise Woofter (dcw002@marietta.edu)
After years of trying to get her to speak at Marietta College, Catherine Venable Moore was able to come to campus on Thursday, September 26th to read from her unpublished book, Solidarity Forever. Moore is an acclaimed creative nonfiction writer whose work has been published in Best American Essays. She has also earned recognition from the MacDowell Organization, the Millay Colony of Arts, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Waymakers Collective.
Moore started off her presentation by recalling a trip to Marietta that she took with her mother during her youth. They had made the trip from Charleston, West Virginia to Marietta to purchase some marbles in town. Moore explained that Marietta College became her childhood idea of what ‘college’ looked like and was happy to be returning now to present her work.
Moore explained that she would be reading from the prologue of her unreleased book, Solidarity Forever, which was a seven-year-old work in progress. The three-part prologue starts with an articulate introduction to the West Virginia Mine Wars of the 1920s. Specifically, Moore tells the story of the ‘march of the redneck army’ from Lens Creek to Blair Mountain in 1921 where the Battle of Blair Mountain took place. Moore had an incredible ability to wrap this nonfiction story in a blanket of imagery and tone that made it feel as though she were there in 1921 and were recounting the story from first-hand experience.
The second part of the prologue went into the meaning of ‘solidarity.’ Moore explained in her book, that solidarity and its meaning have become superfluous in modern society due to their overuse. When the extra parts are taken away, solidarity itself is about who ‘belongs.’
In the third and final part of her prologue, Moore describes a protest she went to in 2011 that followed the same path as the ‘rednecks’ in 1921. In a similar fashion to the original trek to Blair Mountain, counter-protesters showed up and threatened Moore’s group. Police came and doubled down on the protesters and forced them to abandon their campsite in the middle of the night to avoid arrest.
After her presentation, Moore and the attendees met in a conference room which provided refreshments, time to mingle, and speak to the author one on one. During this time, Moore was able to give insight for college students who wished to become published authors. She thought of three things; the first was to develop writing skills by practicing daily, even if for only ten minutes; the second was to read often and read the type of books that you want to write; and the third was to start pitching your work to magazines and publications as soon as you can to get your name out into the world of writing!
Edited by: Zachary Worstell (zdw001@marietta.edu)
