Contact: Sherry Tabor
February 2, 2007

MECC Foundation announces the 31st Annual John Fox, Jr. Literary Festival

The Mountain Empire Community College Foundation announces the 31st Annual John Fox, Jr. Literary Festival to be held on March 21 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. The event will be held in the Goodloe Center, located in Phillips-Taylor Hall on the campus of MECC. It will feature readings by Virginia Senator Jim Webb and writer Jeff Biggers, as well as the announcement of the winners of the John Fox, Jr. Festival poetry and short story contests in the middle school, high school, and adult categories.

Biggers has worked as a writer, educator, radio correspondent, and community organizer across the United States, Europe, India and Mexico. His award-winning stories have appeared on National Public Radio, Public Radio International, and in scores of travel, literary, and music magazines, and national and foreign newspapers.
His work has received numerous honors, including an American Book Award, a Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism, a Field Foundation Fellowship, and an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship. With humor, intelligence, and clarity, his groundbreaking work in United States of Appalachia shows how a remarkable procession of innovators from the hills of Appalachia have defined and shaped America.

Webb, author of Born Fighting, is also a screenwriter, journalist, and lawyer. He served as Secretary of the Navy from 1987-1988, and was elected to the United States Senate in 2006 for the term ending January 2013.
The book, Born Fighting, tells the remarkable story of how the Scots-Irish and their fighting faith in America shaped the great nation we are today. Webb’s profound insights deepen the understanding, not only of this unique people, but also of America’s past and present.

Attendees to the festival are invited to have lunch with the authors at the John Fox, Jr. Museum, which was Fox’s actual home. It has been maintained as it was when he lived there. The cost of this year’s luncheon is $12 and seating is limited. Reservations can be made by calling Sherry Tabor at (276) 523-7466.

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