If you go
› What: Focus Lit fundraiser featuring author Karen White.› When: 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 14.› Where: The Peyton, 3146 Broad St.› Admission: $60 includes Low Country hors d’oeuvres catered by Events With Taste, wine and White’s signature cocktail, The Queen Bee; $150 to include private VIP dinner for 20 guests at Alleia.› Phone: 423-777-4221.› Website: www.southernlitalliance.org.
After playing hooky one day in the seventh grade to read “Gone With the Wind,” Karen White knew she wanted to be a writer – or become Scarlett O’Hara.
Perhaps she’s still secretly harboring Scarlett musings, but the other wish has played out nicely for White. A three-time New York Times best-selling author, White will be in Chattanooga on Thursday for Focus Lit, a fundraiser for the Southern Lit Alliance.
Karen WhiteShe will be reading from her new Southern Gothic-tinged novel,” Dreams of Falling,” released this week. The emotionally fraught story, set in the Low Country of South Carolina, centers on friends, mothers and daughters, and the dark mysteries of the past waiting to be uncovered.
“This is one of the first stops on her book tour, and we are lucky to have her,” says Lynda LeVan, executive director of the literary arts organization.
The event at The Peyton will include Low Country-inspired hors d’oeuvres, wine and White’s signature cocktail, The Queen Bee. In addition to the main event, there’s a chance for 20 VIP guests to attend a private dinner with White afterward at Alleia.
White pursued a degree in business and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in management from Tulane University. Ten years later, after leaving the business world, she fulfilled her dream of becoming a writer with her first book, “In the Shadow of the Moon,” published in August 2000.
Her books have since been nominated for numerous national contests, including the Southeastern Booksellers Alliance Fiction Book of the Year, and she has twice won the National Readers’ Choice Award.
Many of her 24 novels have appeared on various best-seller lists; the most recent, “The Guests on South Battery” and “The Night the Lights Went Out,” were NYT best-sellers in 2017 and earned top rankings on the NYT ebook list, Bookscan and USA Today.
White hails from a long line of Southerners but spent most of her growing-up years in London, England, and is a graduate of the American School in London. When not writing, she spends her time reading, scrapbooking, playing piano and avoiding cooking. She currently lives near Atlanta with her husband, two children and two spoiled Havanese dogs.