THE WRITERS OF THE CHRISTMAS LETTERS

Lee Smith (Novelist)  Originally from Grundy, Virginia, Lee has published eleven novels (including the recently released On Agate
Hill, an historical novel set in Piedmont North Carolina during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras) and three short story
collections.  Among many accolades, Lee is the winner of an Academy Award in Literature, a Southern Book Critics Circle Award (for
The Last Girls, a New York Times bestseller), and the Robert Penn Warren Prize for Fiction.  Lee taught at North Carolina State
University for many years and lives in Hillsborough with her husband, columnist Hal Crowther.   

Paul Ferguson (Adapter, Writer, Director)  Paul has adapted and staged the works of 24 prominent Southern writers, often
combining their texts with the works of Southern songwriters.  This production marks the 10th anniversary of Paul’s stage
adaptations of Lee Smith’s books, the first being The Devil’s Dream in 1996, followed by Good Ol’ Girls, which also included work
by Jill McCorkle and Nashville songwriters Matraca Berg and Marshall Chapman.  Paul has directed professionally all over the
Southeast, in Los Angeles, and in New York City; and worked as script and performance consultant for the national tour and
Broadway productions of Sexaholix (John Leguizamo's one-person show) and for Fighting Words, an independent film shot in Los
Angeles which he also co-produced.  Paul is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America; winner of an Indie Arts Award and the
Leslie Irene Coger Award for career achievement in writing and directing; and a Professor of Performance Studies at UNC-CH,
where he teaches directing, adaptation, and performance.

Karren Pell, Tom House & Tommy Goldsmith – The Reckon Crew (Lyrics and Music)  The Reckon Crew’s name is from their
William Faulkner musical adaptations: As I Lay Dying and Light In August.  They musically adapted Fair and Tender Ladies,
produced and developed by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and a musical adaptation of Connie May Fowler’s Remembering
Blue. The Reckon Crew also perform their adaptations.

Karren Pell was a singer- songwriter in Nashville for over ten years and is published nationally and internationally; Karren earned
four gold records in Norway.  Karren’s book, Alabama Troubadour, is published by River City Publishing and features songs and
essays about Alabama accompanied by Tim Henderson’s photographs. Currently living in Montgomery, Alabama, Karren
continues to perform and also works as a freelance writer; she recently won a “Silver Addy.”

Tom House’s eight CDs have received critical acclaim in No Depression and Esquire. Tom has lived and performed in Nashville for
over thirty years and is the driving spirit behind the Working Stiffs Jamboree that features eclectic, non-mainstream talent.  He has
more than 500 poems published nationally and internationally; his poems have been translated into Italian, German, French, and
Japanese. Tom’s poetry collection, The World According to Whiskey, is published by NewSouth Books.

Tommy Goldsmith worked in Nashville for 30 years as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and as the assistant
managing editor for the Tennessean. Tommy currently lives in Raleigh, NC, and is the Generations Reporter for The News and
Observer. Tommy’s songs have been recorded by the Nashville Bluegrass Band and Riders in the Sky; he has produced records
by various artists including Tracy Nelson and Tom House. His writings about music are published by the Vanderbilt, Oxford, and
University of Illinois presses. Tommy’s book, The BlueGrass Reader, a compilation about bluegrass music, is published by
University of Illinois Press and earned him the International Bluegrass Music Association’s award for “Print Media Personality of the
Year.”