Author Terry O'Neal to Visit Barbe High and Sulphur High in Lake Charles and Sulphur, Louisiana, Honor of Teen Read Week

Teens Get Excited About Reading

Best Selling Author, Terry A. O'Neal, whose poetry has been published in numerous magazines, journals and newspapers, will visit Sulphur High and Barbe High School students on Friday, October 23, 2009, in honor of Teen Read Week. She will have an open discussion centered around her award-winning, YA novel "Sweet Lavender". Sweet Lavender, which has been adapted to a full-length feature screenplay, is a 1960's coming-of-age story of a young girl's awakening to the bittersweet realities of life growing up in a small Louisiana town.

Though O'Neal was born and raised in California, her roots lay in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where her mother, grandparents, and other family were born and raised. Her mother, Barbara Ann Tillman, and her seven siblings attended Iowa Elementary School and Lake Charles High School in the 1950's and 60's.

In a recent interview with Emmanuel Sigauke, an instructor at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, CA., when asked what inspired her to write this classic story, O'Neal responded, "I'm a country girl at heart—I admire what folks call "southern hospitality", a trait that's difficult to find in California locals. I appreciate the environment—the sounds of nature; how the moss sways from the trees from a gentle breeze; the creatures resting in the swamps; and the laid back, slow pace lifestyle that the south portrays."

O'Neal is the author of several publications, including four volumes of poetry and two children's books. In addition, she has been named among the most popular African American female writers of our time, featured in a book entitled "Literary Divas: The Top 100+ Most Admired African American Women in Literature"—a list of women who've left a mark on the wider world through their writing.

O'Neal will appear at Sulphur High School Library on Friday, October 23^rd at 11 a.m.; and at A.M. Barbe High School at 3:15 p.m. This event is closed to the public.