In a career spanning more than fifty years, from “The Last Day the Dogbushes Bloomed” in 1968 to “Silver Fleet” in 2023, through twelve novels and four collections of short stories, Lee Smith has given voice to Appalachian people, especially women, of all ages and backgrounds.

In a new production, actress Quinn Hawkesworth will celebrate Smith’s masterful storytelling by readings from a variety of her stories, accompanied by the music of Eugene Wolf.

Quinn Hawkesworth came to Abingdon with a professional theatre company from North Carolina in a performance of Smith’s “The Devil’s Dream.”  She stayed in Abingdon and performed with the Barter Theatre Company for several years.

Providing complementary music to Smith’s words will be Eugene Wolf, a professional actor and musician, known for his performance as A.P. Carter in Barter Theatre’s productions of “Keep on the Sunny Side” as well as his own memory play, “The Book of Mamaw” about his relationship with his grandmother.

The New York Review of Books says that Smith “is nothing less than masterly. She brings to her work an ear for speech and voice that most other writers can only envy.”