Event to honor women

In honor of Women's History Month, members of the Columbia County Literary Guild are sponsoring a panel discussion about female authors.

The event is called Women Using Literature to Promote a Cause and will begin at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Gibbs Library, at 326 N. Belair Road. It is free.

"Its purpose is twofold," said Lucinda Clark, a poet and founding member of the guild. "Its first purpose is to recognize women authors and to showcase how women authors have taken what they have written and used it to promote a cause."

The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Nahla Sweden, the coordinator of the Humanities Division of Georgia Military College in Augusta and will feature guild members Lynette Samuels, a children's author, and Sylvia Ramsey, a poet, as guest panelists.

"Each presenter will get a chance to talk about what she does with her literature, and then there will be some sharing with what they've written," Clark said.

Ramsey, who also is a founding member of the group, said she will use her poetry to spread a message about a life-threatening illness.

"I'm trying to bring about public advocacy about bladder cancer," she said. "This year's prediction is that about 700,000 people in the United States will either be living with bladder cancer, be diagnosed with bladder cancer or have survived bladder cancer."

Clark said a second purpose of Thursday's panel discussion is to celebrate Small Press Month, during which independent publishers are recognized for their efforts.

For more information about the discussion, call Sherryl James at the Gibbs Library at 863-1946.