Best-selling author Lee Smith has appeared before crowds many times in her career.
The Hillsborough-based writer, whose novels and short-story collections have ranked on the New York Times Best-Sellers list, has read her work before countless fans at readings and other events.
But it's her upcoming participation in The Monti, a live storytelling event, that has her feeling a major case of the nerves.
"I'm sort of terrified," she says with a laugh. "The skills are very different (from written storytelling). But I come from a family of mountain storytellers, so this was the way I first ever thought of stories -- in the voice of somebody telling them and drawing them out. In retrospect, my childhood was spent falling asleep on somebody's lap as the grown-ups were telling stories."
On April 22 at Studio B in Greensboro, Smith will join local storyteller Lorenzo "Logie" Meachum, writer and editor Justin Catanoso and Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux in a special production of The Monti, part of the "Eat, Think and Be Merry" fundraiser for Greensboro Planned Parenthood.
Teacher Jeff Polish started The Monti in Durham and Chapel Hill two years ago. The live, unscripted storytelling series has featured notable North Carolina artists, writers and members of the community performing stories to sold-out audiences.
For the Greensboro event, each participant will perform an original, unscripted and true story based on the theme "choices."
The importance of the cause associated with the event has helped Smith overcome her jitters about performing in front of a crowd.
"I think sometimes we don't understand that you just made one of the most important choices of your life without realizing it, until you've made the choice," Smith says. "And when we think of Planned Parenthood, (the theme of choices) seems especially symbolic and especially important."
Coming from a background of oral storytelling, Smith recognizes the importance of the tradition in our culture. Especially considering the current trend in memoir and personal storytelling with programs such as NPR's "StoryCorps," Smith looks forward to rediscovering her mountain storyteller roots, while contributing to an important cultural trend.
"I think right now in our culture, the personal is what people are interested in," Smith says. "As a student of American culture, I'm interested in how (personal oral storytelling) works."
Smith's personal stories often find their way into her written works. Her latest book, a collection of short stories entitled "Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger," contains new and older stories that reflect events from her own life.
"This (latest collection) has been a lot of fun for me to put together, and in terms of thinking about the personal, my short stories are often very personal, even more than my novels," she says. "With the short stories, I'm so often inspired by something that happened to me in life. They tend to be contemporary, and they tend to catch a moment when everything changes."
Smith's short stories often involve themes of choices and change, something she'll draw on as she prepares to perform at The Monti.
"Each one of these stories sort of represents a major change in my life," she says. "They're like old friends I'm so happy to see again or the student who never got a chance to shine in class. As a woman and a woman writer, all the stories we ever write are structured around choices."
Contact Jennifer Bringle at jenniferbringle@gmail.com
