An Afternoon with Author Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle – Patrick Beaver Memorial Library

On Saturday, October 15 at 2pm, meet , an enrolled citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians who resides in Qualla, NC. Clapsaddle authored the popular novel Even As We Breathe which was released by the University Press of Kentucky in 2020, a finalist for the Weatherford Award and named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020. In 2021, it received the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. 

Even As We Breathe is about nineteen-year-old Cowney Sequoyah who yearns to escape his hometown of Cherokee, North Carolina, in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. When a summer job at Asheville’s luxurious Grove Park Inn and Resort brings him one step closer to escaping the hills that both cradle and suffocate him, he sees it as an opportunity. With World War II raging in Europe, the resort is the temporary home of Axis diplomats and their families, who are being held as prisoners of war. When the daughter of one of the residents goes missing, Cowney finds himself accused of abduction and murder.

Clapsaddle’s work has appeared in Yes! Magazine, Lit Hub, Smoky Mountain Living Magazine, South Writ Large and The Atlantic. After serving as executive director of the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, Annette returned to teaching at Swain County High School for over a dozen years. She is the former co-editor of the Journal of Cherokee Studies and serves on the board of trustees for the North Carolina Writers Network. Clapsaddle created Bird Words, LLC in 2022 and works as an independent contractor and consultant. Registration required.

For more information, please call 828-304-0500. Patrick Beaver Memorial Library is located at 375 3rd Street NE on the SALT Block. All library programs are free and open to the public. Advanced registration is required for this program. To register call 828-304-0500 or sign up online at https://www.hickorync.gov/calendar/events/category/library/.