Author Barbara Moss to Speak Oct. 28

Barbara Moss
By Sherry Kughn
JSU News Bureau

26 August 2004 — Former Jacksonville State University student Barbara Robinette Moss will be among three authors speaking at the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County's Accent on the Authors series luncheon on 28 October, which will launch the book tour for Ms. Moss's latest book Fierce.
   
Ms. Moss attended JSU from 1978-84, taking all of the art and English classes one at a time as she could pay for them. She said her most memorable class was a theatre course taught by Dr. Steve Whitten. His class’s trip to New York City to attend Broadway plays was a high point of her JSU experience.  She remembers sitting four rows from the stage at the play Cats, and then running to get Carol Burnett's signature on opening night of the play The Real Thing, with Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close.
 
“I had recently undergone reconstructive surgery on my face,” said Ms. Moss. I wanted to tell Ms. Burnett how much she had influenced my own decision to have lower-jaw surgery.”
 
Later, Ms. Moss moved to Sarasota, Florida to pursue a bachelor's degree in art from Ringling School of Art & Design, and then a master's degree from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. She has established herself as an artist and will have her first solo exhibition in New York City in October at Kerrigan Campbell Gallery in the East Village. The exhibition, titled "Anything Personal" opens October 21.
 
Ms. Moss' previous book, a memoir called Change Me into Zeus's Daughter, won several state and national awards, including the 2002 Alabama Author Award. The book told of her childhood in Anniston and of struggling with poverty and a facial abnormality. Fierce chronicles her life as a single mother trying to establish her career in art and overcome an emotionally painful past. Moss is currently studying playwriting at the prestigious Actor's Studio Drama School in New York City. She lives with her husband, Duane DeRaad, in New York City and Iowa City, Iowa.

In addition to Ms. Moss, Accent on the Author will host Dr. Wayne Flynt on Oct. 5 and Dr. Patricia Foster on Nov. 10. All fall programs will be at noon at the library. Tickets, which include a catered lunch, may be purchased at the library in advance. Cost is $12.

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