Bland Simpson and Ann Simpson to Headline Joyce T. Boone Southern Authors Series at Barton College

WILSON, N.C. — September 24, 2026 — For decades, Bland and Ann Cary Simpson have captured the landscapes, waterways, and stories of North Carolina through words and photography. On Tuesday, Oct. 6, the longtime collaborators will bring that work to Barton College as featured speakers for the Joyce T. Boone Southern Authors Series.

The program, presented as part of The Barton Forum Lecture Series, will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Hardy Alumni Hall. The event is open to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend.

“To steal a quote from a writer friend, ‘It’s always a good day when you get to hear Bland and Ann,’” said Michael Brantley, Associate Professor of English and Elizabeth H. Jordan Chair of Southern Literature at Barton College. “We are fortunate to have such amazing storytellers on campus who have done it successfully across multiple mediums — books, images, music. It’s going to be one of those events that ends too quickly regardless of what the clock reads. I’m excited about having these two talented, gentle spirits, whose work is taught in our classes, come to Barton.”

The Simpsons have collaborated on text and photography for five books published by UNC Press, much of their work centered on coastal Carolina. Their books include Into the Sound Country, The Inner Islands, Little Rivers and Waterway Tales, North Carolina: Land of Water, Land of Sky, and, most recently, Clover Garden, about their Piedmont home in rural southwest Orange County.

Bland Simpson is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also the longtime pianist for The Red Clay Ramblers, the Tony Award-winning North Carolina string band.

His theatrical collaborations include Diamond Studs, the three-time Broadway hit Fool Moon, and King Mackerel & The Blues Are Running. Simpson is also known for his Waterways series on PBS NC and Our State Magazine and is a member of the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame.

Ann Cary Simpson has worked in communications, fundraising, and photography for 30 years with national and North Carolina environmental organizations, including The Nature Conservancy and Environmental Defense. She also served as associate dean for development at the University of North Carolina’s School of Government, for which she received the UNC Chancellor’s Award, and has been a longtime senior associate with moss+ross consulting.

The Joyce T. Boone Endowed Lectureship for Southern Authors was established in memory of Joyce Thornton Boone by her husband, Doug Boone. Joyce Boone graduated from Atlantic Christian College with degrees in business administration in 1978 and nursing in 1988. She was president-elect of the Barton College Alumni Council when she passed away in October 2004.

For additional information about the Joyce T. Boone Southern Authors Series, contact Michael Brantley, Associate Professor of English and Elizabeth H. Jordan Chair of Southern Literature, at mkbrantley@barton.edu or (252) 399-6370.

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Clover Garden

A Carolinian’s Piedmont Memoir

by Bland Simpson

Photographs by Ann Cary Simpson

200 pp., 43 halftones, index

ISBN 978-1-4696-8289-1 $26.00 cloth

Publication date: September 24, 2024

For more information: https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469682891/clover-garden/