Donor Appreciation 2020
Blind Faith: Literacy without Boundaries
Live on Thursday May 20 4:00-5:00pm
Our guest is award winning writer, Nan Chase, author of Asheville: A History, and her latest book Lost Restaurants of Asheville.
More about Nan
An award-winning investigative and feature writer, Nan Chase has collected a long string of newspaper and magazine credits during her career. They include The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Charlotte Observer and Christian Science Monitor, as well as Air & Space, Architectural Record, Hemispheres, Our State, Southern Living, Fine Gardening, Inc. Magazine, and Smithsonian. She currently writes for such regional publications as Edible Asheville¸ Carolina Mountain Life, Mountain Xpress, Smoky Mountain Living, WNC Magazine and Blue Ridge Country, and blogs for Sow True Seed.
A book author as well, Nan co-authored Drink the Harvest: Making and Preserving Juices, Wines, Meads, Teas, and Ciders, published by Storey Publishing in 2014, and created Eat Your Yard! Edible trees, shrubs, vines, herbs and flowers for your landscape, which was published in 2010 by Gibbs Smith. She is also the author of Asheville: A History, published in 2007 by McFarland and Company, and co-author of Bark House Style: Sustainable Designs from Nature, published in 2008 by Gibbs Smith. Nan was a contributing author for 27 Views of Asheville, published in 2012 by Eno Publishing. Her latest book is Lost Restaurants of Asheville, published by The History Press in 2019.
Nan has lectured from coast to coast on both writing and gardening topics; audiences have included Master Gardener organizations and garden clubs, sustainable agriculture groups, libraries, and professional writing organizations.
She is also a business writer, providing media relations services and media training for companies and non-profit organizations. Clients have included HandMade in America, the North Carolina Arboretum, Gray Line Trolley Tours of Asheville, The Brite Agency, the North Carolina Arts Council, Highland Craftsmen, and Hot Springs Resort & Spa.
Nan Chase has written about topics as diverse as nuclear energy and the history of the miniskirt. In recent years, her writing has focused on architecture, home furnishings, landscape design, and gardening; at the same time, her writing on religious topics has appeared in both the Jewish and the Christian press. She is a veteran travel writer.
For nearly 14 years Nan taught a range of writing-related courses as an adjunct faculty member at Appalachian State University, in Boone, N.C.; departments included Communication, English, and Interdisciplinary Studies.
An avid gardener, Nan is founding president of the Asheville E-Z Gardeners club. She served on the Historic Resources Commission of Asheville and Buncombe County from 2011 to 2015, and was a board member of the Friends of the North Carolina Room at Pack Memorial Library, in Asheville. Today she lives in Fries, Virginia, on the New River.