Alabama lost one of its most acclaimed talents this summer when Kathryn Tucker Windham died at the age of 93.
Windham started her first writing job when she was just 12 and won several Associated Press awards for writing and photography during her 81-year career. Her life and her stories will be celebrated with an event Thursday at 7 p.m. at The Gnu's Room.
"She was best known for her storytelling," said Tina Tatum, Gnu's Room owner. "A storyteller is somebody who, as soon as they start talking, everybody is just captivated by what they say. And they bring forward all the old traditional folklore from the past that keeps it alive for all of us."
Windham was born in Selma and grew up in neighboring Thomasville.
"She was known to generations of school children for her ghost stories and her collection of folklore and as a storyteller who drew her inspiration and narratives from growing up in Alabama and life in Alabama," said Jay Lamar, director of the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities. "She was incredibly funny and had a really sharp wit."
Windham traveled the country, giving people an idea of what life in Alabama was like.
"We just want to celebrate her work and the impact she's had on so many of us and her dedication to writing and the arts," Lamar said. "She put Alabama history and experience in a perspective all of us can identify with."
The event marks the start of the October Auburn Writers Conference and will be presided over by Ed Williams and Mary Helen Brown, professors in the Department of Communication and Journalism who knew Windham.
Williams said he first met Windham more than 15 years ago, and for several years he took students in his newswriting classes to interview her in Selma. Today he requires students to read her book "Odd-Egg Editor."
Tatum said the experiences that can be learned from the life and works of Windham will be part of the event.
"Then we are going to open it up for people who have memories of her or her stories or their own stories to share," Tatum said.
At the time of her death, Windham was working on a memoir. The book, "She: The Old Woman Who Took Over My Life," will debut at the event.
"The fact that her last book is going to debut at the event is really the perfect opportunity to remember her and to celebrate her," Lamar said.
Tatum said she hopes young people come to the event whether they have heard of Windham or not.
"This event is to honor her memory," Tatum said. "She really is an Alabama treasure."
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