Robert Gwaltney

So I'm Bren McClain, and I'm the author of One Good Mama Bone.

For me, it's a... reiteration of, it's an underscoring of southern culture.

And, you know, all of the complexities, Aren't we complex people, you know, here in the South, you know, the richness and also the contradictions, right?

Because we've got, you know, we do this, and then there's the contradiction.

I tell you, it kind of reminds me of our weather here.

We are, you know, this human dance.

That's the world that Robert Gwaltney sets up for us in this book.

It's not an easy world.

There are no easy answers.

It's full of secrets.

Full of secrets, no easy answers.

And so he puts on the page these flesh and blood characters who are bound up in all of the richness of life.

Those inconsistencies that we have in the southern culture.

I know, like, oh, hello.

that doesn't really add up, but, oh my gosh, that richness of complexity of characters.

So I think when you step into this book, as far as southern culture goes, you're going to get a big dose, a big dose of southern culture, and I think just an, an understatement, an understatement of what we know about the South.

So, what I liked most about The Cicada Tree is its language.

I'm a real language person.

I love to open a book, and I go, oh my gosh, this is somebody on the page here, somebody distinctive, and I contend that you could open up this book to any page, and you could get example after example, after example of Robert's language.

Robert's style is so unique.

It is so full of poetry.

I mean, I think he could be a poet.

I mean, his writing style is incredibly lyrical, poetic, beautiful.

Yet it's, it's, it's, it comes in these little bites.

I mean, he's not a William Faulkner stream of consciousness, like on and on and on and on and on, that kind of a style, just really short, concise, poetic, lyrical sentences, and they come all the time.

I mean, you read one paragraph and you go, oh, wow, let me think about that.

The way he put that, that was so imaginative.

And then you go down a little bit more and read and my gosh, here's some more, and so it is just laden with this lyricism that is just breathtaking.

I'm Holly Jackson.

Join us as we bring you powerful stories from both new and established southern authors as we sit By the River.

♪ music ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Major funding for By The River is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina.

For more than 40 years the ETV Endowment of South Carolina has been a partner of South Carolina ETV and South Carolina Public Radio.

Additional funding is provided by the USCB Center for the Arts, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at USCB and the Pat Conroy Literary Center.

>> Hi, it's another beautiful day here at our Waterfront Studio in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Welcome to By the River.

I'm your host Holly Jackson.

And as part of our love letter to southern writing, we are bringing you powerful stories from both new and established southern authors.

This season, we are focusing on unexpected southern stories and writers, and we are here today with author of The Cicada Tree, Robert Gwaltney.

Thank you, Robert, for joining us.

I'm really excited about getting to know more about you and about your book.

Beautiful cover, by the way.

I just think this is really pretty.

We'll talk about that in a minute.

Okay.

But let's start off with just tell me a little bit about yourself and what led you to this book.

<Robert> So well, by day.

I work for Easter Seals, North Georgia nonprofit.

My role is Vice President of Operations and, and all the hours between, I'm a writer and it's something that I wanted to do for a very long time.

So I'm in a very interesting place in life.

I'm in the middle of life, but at the beginning of something new.

This is my first novel.

<Holly> First novel, I imagine it's been quite an experience just kind of like getting into the, the atmosphere of these authors and getting to know them and just kind of how this all works as far as book signings and that sort of thing.

Tell me about that experience for you.

<Robert> So the author community is very generous and extremely supportive.

I've been very lucky.

When you're a debut novelist coming up, of course no one knows who in the heck you are.

And so there've been some really kind individuals who've been very helpful, who have attended my events, who've interviewed me.

I'm going to be attending an event with Donna Everhart, who's a wonderful southern author.

So a lot of individuals have been, been very supportive of me, Ms. Bren McClain.

<Holly> Oh yes.

I'm a big fan.

>> Who's been on the show before for.

She has been very kind to me.

<Holly> Now, she about brought me to tears.

You going to do that today?

<Robert> No, I'll try not to.

<Holly> Okay.

Tell me about the influences in your writing.

You're from, everybody knows by hearing you talk and me too, but especially you.

<Robert> Yes.

>> You are from the Deep South.

<Robert> I am.

>> Tell me about how that has influenced your writing.

<Robert> So I grew up in southwest Georgia, a small town called Cairo.

My mom and dad still live there today.

I think that what really influenced me is specifically with The Cicada Tree would be he women in my life, my mom, my aunts, the friends, the girlfriends that I had when I was a boy.

And in the book, not only of course, do you have the women that are highlighted, but of course the South also plays a very important character in the book, as well.

<Holly> All right.

So tell me some of those female traits that are especially are strong in the South without getting in too much trouble over here.

<Robert> No.

Well, it's interesting because I think that that first of all, you know, southern women are remarkable, and I wouldn't be the person I am today if I had not had them bringing me up.

But in this specific book, each of the women really have sort of a supernatural quality to them, which was really a way for me to highlight what I felt was extraordinary about southern women.

You have a piano prodigy.

You have a singing prodigy.

You have someone who can tell the future in the stitches that she sews, and then of course you have the, the antagonists, the Mayfield family who possess a supernatural beauty people called the Mayfield Shine.

<Holly> I've heard you say before that it was actually in third grade where the writing or the idea of being a writer actually began.

So start with that story and how it progressed into this book that we hold now.

<Robert> So, I think that the first time I thought it was possible to be a writer, I was in the third grade in Ms. Glenda Morton's class.

On this particular day, she invited a classmate's mother, who I was unaware of at the time, was an author.

And she had written a book titled Stone Gables, and up until that point, I thought that authors were a bit like unicorns.

They lived in far off places, you know, they might be out there somewhere, but I might not have the opportunity to meet one.

So that really...

I think of that day often.

And I think that's what's so important about young people having those early childhood experiences, because moving forward, I felt like, well, if Ms. Brenda Graham can write a book, I might be able to do that one day as well.

I love my English classes.

I think that most writers will brag about their English teachers who were very supportive.

I thought initially when I went to high school that I might be a communications major.

Changed my mind, but in the back of my mind, I always knew, I felt like I wanted to be, I could be a storyteller.

And so around 2000 when I moved to Atlanta, I thought, well, the clock is ticking.

If I don't begin, it's never going to happen.

So I took a few classes down at the Margaret Mitchell house.

I would do that in the evenings.

I joined the Atlanta Writers Club, I joined a critique group.

And these last, you know, these last 20 years, I've really been playing in the writing sandbox, trying to find my way to storytelling.

and that led me to The Cicada Tree.

<Holly> All right.

So tell me how in the world you manage this full-time job and then in the pockets in between in your personal life, are able to fit in the writing and make it happen.

It must be a struggle.

<Robert> It is a struggle.

So when I'm writing, I'm up about 4:30 in the morning.

I write for about two hours until about 6:30 when it's time for me to get ready to go to work.

And then weekends... are key writing time for me as well.

So anytime I can scrape together, some time.

I'm a morning writer.

Not much is going to happen, you know, in the late afternoons or early evenings.

<Holly> Now that you've have this book completed, do you have these wishes of, "God, I wish I would've started earlier, "I wish I would've done this."

Or do you feel like it all played out as it should?

<Robert> I don't have any regrets.

I feel like, I feel like it happened when it needed to happen, and I think that there's something to be said for, I don't, if this had happened when I've been, you know, much younger in my thirties, I think that I'm not quite sure how I would have handled it or would have approached it.

But more than anything, you know, I just feel a significant amount of gratitude to have this opportunity.

>> And I bring that up because I think that a lot of fans who might have seen themselves as a writer at some point thought, well, I should have done it, and it's too late now.

But what I've really learned in this season of By the River is we've had a lot of authors who started in their 50s, 60s, and this is kind of just a whole new thing for them.

<Robert> Absolutely.

>>And they're very talented, very skilled, and it's a really, a whole new world in a way that you're getting to learn.

And so just kind of a, a word of inspiration for those watching who might have said that this could have been for them, but maybe their time has passed.

It hasn't.

<Robert> It hasn't.

I mean, it certainly, it's never too late to start.

And I think that everyone has at least one story in them.

I hope I have a few.

<Holly> So are you still writing now?

<Robert> I am writing.

I'm at the very beginning of a new book, and while I've been here in Beaufort, so the story actually takes place on a fictitious Georgia coastal barrier island, and the protagonist is a 14 year old girl who lives on the marsh with her mother.

So this has been a wonderful opportunity to be able to begin that project.

>> We've talked a lot about you.

So tell me a little bit more about the book so that those watching can know what, what we're reading about.

<Robert> Sure.

So, one of the things that you had that you learn is that you also have to have an elevator pitch for your books.

<Holly> Right.

I know.

How do I say this whole story?

<Robert> How do you do it?

>> Right <Robert> How do you condense it?

I think that's the most challenging part of writing is being able to condense it.

So, the summer of 1956, 11 year old Analeise Newell, who is a whiskey drinking prodigy, encounters the, the Wealthy Mayfield family.

They're a family that possesses a supernatural beauty that others refer to as that Mayfield shine.

It's this initial meeting that stirs obsession within Analeise, sets her down this path of dark games and manipulation, ultimately all of that culminating in a cataclysmic plague of cicadas.

<Holly> Tell me how your hometown of Cairo, have they supported this and you've been back to promote a little bit?

>> Yes.

So I had the opportunity back in February when the book first launched to attend a gathering at the Roddenberry Memorial Library, the library that I went to when I was a boy all the way through high school, and we were, on that particular day, my event was competing with the Rattlesnake Roundup over in Wigham, Georgia.

(Holly laughs) And we still had a full house.

<Holly> That couldn't have been even better.

>> I know, and we still had a full house.

<Holly> Right.

I imagine where you're talking about the Rattlesnake Roundup's pretty popular.

<Robert> It.

is, of course.

<Holly> What is a Rattlesnake roundup, by the way?

<Robert> Well, it's changed quite a bit.

<Holly> Is the festival of sorts?

<Robert> Yes.

It's a festival of sorts.

And also, like a town over in Calvary, Georgia, we have something called Mule Day, as well.

<Holly> You know, those kind of things are great inspiration for storytelling.

<Robert> They are.

<Holly> You need to surround yourself with that.

<Robert> Exactly.

And you know, the Cairo, Georgia, the folks there have been extremely supportive.

I had my old high school English teachers that were there, individuals I've not seen in years.

The Cicada Tree takes place in a fictitious town called Providence, Georgia, which is on or around where Cairo might be.

Now, one of the questions they asked was, you know, is Providence, Cairo, Georgia?

Of course.

I said, well, no, just, I cherry picked some things.

<Holly> Right.

I imagine some of them are, reading, thinking <Robert> Who's, who <Holly> like exactly who's who <Robert> Right.

I think that that's what worried my mom most, because she didn't read the book until the very end, and I think she was a little scared what I might have put in there, but she read it, she loved it.

She's relieved.

Exactly.

<Holly> Wonderful.

You know, whenever you said that, it reminded me of who are your, your initial readers.

I always like to know who's among your group, that you know, that they'll read it and they'll give you that honest feedback that won't hurt you too much, but might guide you in a way you might want to change or something.

<Robert> See, writing is a solitary process and you, you're alone a lot of the time.

But, I'm fortunate to work with the critique group, there are four of us.

There's a poet and two other fiction writers, and every two weeks - we have a chapter, we submit that and we come together and we share notes.

And it's been very important.

I think the thing about critique groups is that you have to make certain that you surround yourself with folks who have your best interest at heart.

<Holly> Right.

>>I've been very lucky over the last decade to have such a group of people.

<Holly> Have you changed your route in significant ways because of their feedback?

<Robert> There have been some things that, that positively impact the book.

Absolutely, as a result of their input.

<Holly> Wonderful.

Tell me more about that that circle of authors and writers.

but...every - we're in season five now, and I'm still amazed at just, what a tight-knit group it is, what supporters they are of each other, because, you know, at the end of the day, I mean, you're, you're both in competition for the reader to pick up, pick your book, you know, but it's not that kind of feel at all.

<Robert> Not At all.

>>Everyone's rooting for the other person.

Tell me about what your experience has been like with that so far.

<Robert> Absolutely.

Well, so when The Cicada Tree first came out - Well, let me back up.

So there's a...local author, Bren McClain, who wrote a beautiful book, titled, One Good Mama Bone.

I read that book I loved, and I mean- <Holly>Did you just happen upon it?

Or?

>> I had a friend say, share with me, you need to read this book, and I read it and I wept all the way through the thing.

And it still, it still stays with me.

And I desperately wanted to meet her.

I said, I have to discuss this book with her.

And...I know someone who knows her, and she was very gracious, and she agreed to Zoom with us.

And as a result of that friendship, you know, she, when the book came out, I actually had the opportunity to engage in an event through the Pat Conroy Literary Center, and it was hosted at Nevermore Books, and Bren read my book, which is terrifying when someone that you respect is reading your work.

She liked it and she interviewed me.

So that's just one example of the community of support that's out there for writers.

<Holly> Wow.

I bet you were just like, you know, starstruck during this.

<Robert> I was.

>> and nerve-wracking.

<Robert> Well, she said something really interesting in our first meeting, and she said, and it's something that I've always believed, but have never said out loud to anyone.

And she said, Robert, I believe that there are two types of writers, there are writers that write from a place of emotion, which I am, and I suspect that you are as well.

And I think that Pat Conroy was such a writer and writers who write from a place of intellect and not one is better than the other.

They're just different.

<Holly>Different types.

>> So I definitely do, I think right from a place of emotions, very emotional experience for me when I'm writing.

<Holly> I'm glad you brought up the Pat Connery Literary Center because here in Beaufort, they are so supportive of By the River, and it's been really pleasant to be working with them in certain ways.

Tell me about your experience with them and just how they support you too.

<Robert> Oh my gosh.

So when, when I, when I visited in March, first of all to, I was given a personal tour at the Pat Conroy Literary Center.

I'm such a huge fan of Mr. Conroy's writing the Prince of Tides is a favorite.

So they were wonderful, you know, Jonathan Haupt, and the entire team were very lovely and very supportive.

Again, you know, just another example of, of how generous that the writing community is, and Beaufort is such a literary community, I don't wanna leave.

<Holly> I see that you...

I see that you've fallen in love.

You know, that happens to a lot of writers.

They come visit and they don't go back home.

<Robert> Well, I definitely will be back.

<Holly> Wonderful.

Tell me who your, who you follow as far as authors.

What are you reading?

<Robert> Well, I just finished reading a book by a friend of mine who lives in Atlanta, Kimberly Brock.

She's written a book, the Lost Book of Eleanor Dare.

And it's lovely.

I'm also a huge fan of JC Sasser's book, Gradle Bird.

I read that after I read One Good Mama Bone, and there's an author, who's name is James Wade, and his third book just released it's titled, Beasts of the Earth.

And I have a wonderful friend Ken Taylor, Blake Moore, who's, I think it's her third or fourth novel is just out titled, The Deception, and it's wonderful.

<Holly> I'm really convinced you have more hours in your day than the rest of us.

I don't know how you do it or you get little, little sleep.

Tell me about the connection you form with your characters.

Do you feel like they turn into real people in a way and you're, you know, battling in your head with these people and voices and all that stuff?

Tell me.

I'm always amazed at how that goes.

>> Absolutely.

So, The Cicada Tree is told from the point of view of an 11 year old girl.

I think, you know, elements of myself are in all of the characters, but more so in her.

And you do form a very tight bond.

And there was a morning period when...I wrote, when I finished writing the epilogue of The Cicada Tree.

And they do stay with you.

And I think that before I can really set forth to write a project, I really have to feel a close connection with that protagonist.

It's almost an obsession for me.

Now, the new project that I'm working on, I can feel that obsession rolling in with the protagonist that I'm going to be writing.

<HollyVery good.

I said that we'd get back to this.

I wanna make sure we do talk about the cover of the book.

I think it's beautiful.

I love the colors.

I'm always interested in the story of how it came to be.

Sometimes authors say that they had a big hand in it and some don't.

So in your case, what was that and how you think it turned out?

<Robert> One of my greatest fears was having an ugly cover.

And so part of, part of the, the publishing contract was that I could bring ideas to the table.

So I, took matters into my own hands and I worked with a professional cover designer.

So I said, could you just give me three options that I could present to the publisher and I did.

And they loved this cover.

And that's the cover that they adopted.

The only note was we, we think that your name needs to be larger and the title needs to be larger.

We made those changes and I got the cover I wanted.

<Holly> I think it's beautiful.

<Robert> Thank you.

<Holly> Okay.

What else would you like to add in terms of your future as a writer and what people can look forward to?

<Robert> So I don't consider myself a poet, but I actually do have a poem that's been accepted into a Dolly Parton poetry anthology.

<Holly> Oh my gosh.

>> That's gonna be coming out.

<Holly> That's a big deal.

>> in a couple of months.

I'm excited, and <Holly> Just having that name.

>> Absolutely.

<Holly> You know, I'd be in freak out mode with that.

That's a big deal.

>> There are some big named poets in that particular, that they're going to be in this anthology to include the woman who just won the Pulitzer Poetry this year.

<Holly> Whoa.

Okay.

I can't believe we got this far, and we're just getting to poetry.

So tell me about that.

And this is kinda like a side thing or something just came to you?

Tell me a little bit about you as a poet.

<Robert> For the poet.

Well, I have a fond affection for, for lyrical writing.

I think that's something that I think that stylistically that's, that's who I am.

So it wasn't hugely to write poetry.

I've dabbled in it, but not done a lot.

There actually is a poem referenced in The Cicada Tree, that I wrote that takes place I think in the second, in the second act.

And it's this odd sort of riddle a young girl shares with some other girls at her party.

So I don't, whether or not I will write a a lot of poetry, I'm not certain, but I do love lyrical quality to writing.

<Holly> Wow.

Just what an accomplishment to to be among, you know, in that title.

<Robert> It's overwhelming.

I'm excited.

So, you know, when you write novels, it's not like you've got work coming out to the world frequently.

I am starting to write a, a new piece of fiction that I hope that I'll have completed maybe by this time next year, and if it's good, I hope my agent will send it out.

<Holly> Yeah.

<Robert> into the world.

<Holly> Wow.

That's, that's just really cool.

I do want to back up a little bit to something that we were talking about earlier, but I had other questions I wanted to squeeze in as well.

So we talked about the third grade thing and then, you know, you now putting this book out and that time where you thought, I'll get to it later, I'll get to it later.

Were you writing in more of a, at all, was there ever like the, the diary, you know, as a kid and little writings that you kept along the way?

<Robert> So, I had this little reel to reel tape recorder and I would record myself telling stories.

<Holly> Oh, but nothing written down?

Just out of your head?

<Robert> Right, and then sometimes I would write scripts.

but back in the day, I was a huge fan of of daytime drama.

I love soap operas.

So I would write my own, then I would.

<Holly> Oh my Gosh.

<Robert> I would make my brothers speak parts with me.

<Holly> Do you still have these things?

<Robert> I don't, I think my mom might have them.

<Holly> You've got to rummage through a garage or something to get your hands on that.

<Robert> That would be pretty mortifying.

<Holly> But you know what, whenever you find it, then the struggle is to find something to play it on.

<Robert> Exactly.

I know that technology doesn't exist anymore.

<Holly> I know.

Are we talking cassette tapes?

Or are we dating back?

<Robert> Well, so initially reel to reel and cassette.

<Holly> Okay.

<Robert> And cassette.

<Holly> Yeah.

Well, that's fun.

I'm sure that'd be fun to have.

And then tell me about the support of your, your immediate family, how that's been.

<Robert> So I'm the oldest of four boys and my brothers have been extremely supportive, and my mom and dad as well.

When we were at home in Cairo, Georgia, at the Roddenberry Memorial Library for the local event, you would've thought that my mom and dad had written the book.

<Holly> Aw.

<Robert> Extremely proud.

<Holly> So proud.

I bet that was a beautiful thing to see.

So, they've read the book and out telling all about it.

<Robert> Yes, and I didn't even realize, <Holly> They're your PR agents.

<Robert> They are.

My brother Chris and his wife, after they read the book, you know, after they read the book, they loved it.

They had a lot of questions.

They were dissecting it, which I thought was really, really lovely.

<Holly> That is.

That's really special.

Well, I am so glad that you were able to come here and that it seems you'll be back, this won't be our first and last meeting because it seems like you've become a fan of Beaufort, but it's not real hard for Beaufort to show, you know, we don't have to do too much PR to get people to fall in love.

I mean, you saw outside the parking lot, <Robert> It's beautiful.

<Holly> What my view is.

I know, amazing.

So.

<Robert> You are literally by the river.

<Holly> I am.

That's the name of the show By the River.

Yes.

Well, thank you so much.

You know, I'm gonna leave this one final thought.

We've talked, we've done the teacher shout out, which I always love, and by the way, were you ever able to tell a teacher the influence that they had on you?

<Robert> So she's passed away.

<Holly> Right.

<Robert> But her daughter I shared, I shared, <Holly> Oh.

Good.

<Robert> The impact that she had on my life as a writer.

<Holly> That's great.

I always like to give that shout out.

And then also this show is a collaboration with the University of South Carolina Beaufort.

And so I always like to kind of give a little piece of wisdom to those who are at that stage in life of what do I want to really be when I grow up because I'm about to enter the real world.

What would you say?

<Robert> Oh my gosh.

Well,... do what you do what you love.

Follow that course.

And I think that if I could give any other writer any advice, it would be, don't compare your journey with the journey of others because our journeys are going to be quite different.

Otherwise, you know, it can be quite maddening, to compare yourself to others.

<Holly> I like that.

Very good.

Thanks so much for joining us on the set for By the River.

And thank you all out there for joining us.

It's always nice to have you around.

We will see you next time right here By the River.

<Robert> Etta Mae did not wait for my music, finding the song within her without the help of a single note of mine.

I pulled my hands from the piano and listened, sorrow seeping from the perfect pitch of her soprano.

I sat, eyes shut letting her enchantment settle over me, feeling a tingle just under my skin.

The weight of the thing growing until it sat heavy, pressing against my insides until there was nothing left for me to do but cry.

Rain fell against the tin.

At first, a smattering, the tempo gaining speed, the force greater until there was no other sound, nothing left but the music, but a deafening whir and the vinegary taste of sadness on my tongue.

♪ music ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Major funding for By the River is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina for more than 40 years.

The ETV Endowment of South Carolina has been a partner of South Carolina ETV and South Carolina Public Radio.

Additional funding is provided by the USCB Center for the Arts Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at USCB and the Pat Conroy Literary Center.

♪ ♪