Terah Shelton Harris
The Cashiers library will host the author of “Long After We Are Gone” and “One Summer In Savannah,” Terah Shelton Harris, Thursday at 3 p.m. and Highlands will host her Friday at 12:30 p.m. for their Books and Bites series.
Harris said she wanted “to write about those topics, the circumstances, that happen to people every day that we don’t talk about or that we aren’t aware of.”
Her newest book, “Long After We Are Gone,” details four brothers who return to North Carolina in the wake of their father’s death and have to fight for possession of their property. It draws inspiration from the real story of the “Silver Dollar Road” documentary. The documentary chronicles land seizures of Black Americans and one family’s fight for their property from behind prison bars.
Harris tries to promote unheard stories while wrapping warmth and catharsis in the pages.
“I believe fiction can educate. You can be entertained by reading a book, but you can learn as well,” she said.
While “Long After We Are Gone” has a deep message of family unity, it also requires the individual characters to come to terms with themselves and let go of darker stains. Similarly, “One Summer in Savannah” details a character’s return to self love and forgiveness after encountering a violent attack.
For Harris, the writing process isn’t linear. She said she starts with the end of the book and works her way from there. As different characters come to life in her head, or perhaps as different scenes transpire, she will shift her sight accordingly and list those details.
Harris said she is less of a visual author, instead she more frequently hears her characters speaking to her.
“I am much more of an internal writer than external. I write thoughts and emotions better than I do presence and scenes,” Harris said.
From there, her work is a process of piecing everything together, which Harris said often takes two or three versions of long, hand-written notes.
Before becoming an author, Harris formerly freelanced as a travel writer, where she would visit new areas and find stories to tell from abroad. Cultures abounded, but language wasn’t much of a barrier due to English’s widespread grasp.