Publisher's Synopsis
The Flood of 2006 in Walton, New York, had a tide. With each wave of destruction that carried off the goods and culture of the town, a fresh current of goods and creativity surfaced. Nowhere was this more evident than on Gardiner Place, where slowly, the Walton Theater and the William B. Ogden Free Library re-emerged. Sally Cranston became Library Director one month later, and helped get it back on course. Months later, when the library's floors and walls were finally dried and new shelves put up, Waltonians stepped forward with personally catalogued collections of their own children's books, and new sets donated by publishers. Enter Leslie Sharpe, who arranged for this latter gift. Leslie is a published author, editor, and professor in Columbia University's Writing Division. She and Sally came up with the idea of Leslie donating her time to lead the library writer's group, and any contributions people felt they could make, would go to buying books to help restore the collections. The course started with three sessions the summer of 2007. People came from Afton and Oneonta to join the Walton writers. As our numbers grew, Sally took to bringing an alarm clock that would limit -- with rare success -- each of the readers to five minutes. Leslie would give the first critique and other readers followed with theirs. Who knew what voices would emerge? Writers' ages ranged from ninety to fifteen, and narratives came in the form of memoir, poems, plays, short stories, and even song. No matter what the form, the contents were personal stories recalling the geographical, historical and psychological imprints of past and present generations. Each tale was like a pebble thrown into a clear pond, expanding, intersecting with, and continuing its voyage to shores that are different, but emotionally recognized and shared by all. The result seemed inevitable. Why not start our own literary magazine and invite a larger audience to connect with these tales? The collaborative result of the Walton Writers is this first issue of "Who Knew?" -Denise B. Dailey
