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Dalton State Library Hosts Book Talk and Signing

09/13/18

An author of novels and short story collections that have appeared in publications such as The New Yorker will host a discussion and signing at Dalton State next week.

Tim Gautreaux, who penned award-winning books The Next Step in the Dance and The Clearing will be at the Derrell C. Roberts Library on campus Thursday, Sept. 20 at 12:15 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Gautreaux will then be at the Dalton-Whitfield Public Library at 6 p.m. for a discussion and signing.

Gautreaux uses his family’s blue-collar background as an influence for his writing. He pulls inspiration from his father’s experience as a tugboat captain and his grandfather’s experience as a steamboat engineer.

“I pride myself in writing a ‘broad-spectrum’ fiction, fiction that appeals to both intellectuals and blue-collar types,” he said.

The Next Step in the Dance received the 1999 SEBA Book Award, and The Clearing won the 1999 Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance SIBA Book Award and the 2003 Mid-South Independent Booksellers Association Award.

After teaching for 30 years at Southeast Louisiana University, Gautreaux now lives with his wife in Chattanooga.