ALMA KENNEDY BOWEN
Recently retired as executive editor of the daily newspape, The Times of Gainesville, Georgia, Alma Kennedy Bowen is now focusing on her career as novelist and historian. Combining talent and a love for writing and history with her deep affection for the people of North Georgia she has brought forth a first novel, The Cement Duck.
Growing up in the Appalachian foothills of Clarkesville in North Georgia, Alma describes herself as. "born to write." However, she didn't recognize this until she was 30 years old. Alma recounts the circumstances; "I went to The Times to interview for a bookkeeping job and Editor Johnny Vardeman asked me to write something. Although I was surprised, I interviewed my aunt that weekend, wrote a story about twenty times and gave it to Johnny on Monday. He asked me to come back later in the week for several hours of tests by the Saddler Company out of Chicago. "That's how I became Women's editor for The Times and discovered my love of writing."
She has been writing since.
Alma with husband, Clyde shown here, balances and mingles life with a family which includes three children and four granddaughters, and a multifaceted career.
It was several years ago that Alma's attention was directed to the events which serve as background for this first novel, The Cement Duck. Applying her capacity to experience situations with emotional depth and, with respect, through the eyes of others, she began to imagine the motivations and reactions animating those affected by the event. Her fictional characters began to form and complexities of plot and actors germinated for some years. Retirement provided a few blocks of uncommitted time and, consulting her characters, she put The Cement Duck to paper.
The result is delightful. A style polished through many years of professional writing holds the reader to few pauses before the ending. The characters are real and substantial people reflecting Alma's great understanding and insight into the workings of human nature.
A professional and citizen in the finest sense, Alma Bowen has always demonstrated a deep commitment to service for the community, local and global. She has held many leadership roles in the arts, education and civic organizations and groups and is a beloved citizen of the North Georgia communities.
For more details, please read more here.
There is good news, especially for those who enjoy her first novel. And who doesn't? Alma is now at work on the next book. Also framed in the history and locale of Georgia mountain communities it is bound to be as compelling as The Cement Duck.
In addition to fiction writing Alma is currently compiling a Hall County, Georgia Encyclopedia. There could be no better choice for this work. Her knowledge of the region is "encyclopedic." One can also be assured that Alma will never miss an opportunity to employ that knowledge to enrich her fiction writing.
Follow the links on the right to Alma's blog for more about Alma and The Cement Duck.
W. Lorraine Watkins, November 2009