Birthplace Foundation Vice President on Writing Events and the Birthplace

In this week's issue of the Pocahontas Times, Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation Vice President Jolie Lewis uses her regular column "The Manuscript" to focus on writing, and how the legacy of Pearl S. Buck is still being used to help cultivate new talent, today.

The column gives some interesting detail on the program of several upcoming events such as the Pearl Buck Birthday Celebration, and the Writers Workshop and Blueberry Workshop.  It also talks about our new collaboration with West Virginia Writers, an association that promotes and supports writing and writers throughout the state.  This partnership resulted in

1) the presentation of two workshops inspired by Pearl Buck's writing at the West Virginia Writers annual conference, and 2) the announcement of winners in a brand-new category of the West Virginia Writers contest titled the Pearl Buck Award for Writing for Social Change.

For an account of the workshops and of the awards announcement, continue reading the story at the website of the Pocahontas Times.  A list of winners of the Pearl Buck Award is available here. Click on the link WVW Winners 2012 and download the pdf.

Pearl Buck: The Mike Wallace Interview

Though she didn't pass away until 1973, well into the era of television, it's surprisingly difficult to find recordings of interviews with Pearl S. Buck.  This February 8, 1958 interview with Mike Wallace is one of the best known and most enlightening.  It focuses largely on Pearl's view of gender relations and the role of men and women.  She is outspoken and her views are intriguing.  The site includes the video and a transcript.

Almost as intriguing are the shots of Wallace smoking and hawking Parliament cigarettes, as well as the content of the ads themselves, all of which are left in the video.