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Forsyth Writer’s Club supports local author in publishing memoir
Dean steps down weeks after closing Sunshine Law clinic By CARL APPEN carl@appenmedia.com
By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — It took Barbara Gomes Serafino years to write the book she promised her grandmother, a memoir filled with stories about her immigrant family. The Forsyth Writer’s Club, a group with more than 160 members, mostly women, helped her along the way — a “gift from the universe” Serafino found on Nextdoor. The club, celebrating its seventh anniversary in June, meets monthly, usually at a favorite Starbucks location, to review each other’s works in progress and provide suggestions on how to publish. Serafino said the original idea was for her family to be the memoir’s sole audience. “With the encouragement of my friends, I said, ‘I’m gonna do this,’” Serafino said from inside the screened back porch of her home. Her memoir “The Book I Always Promised,” published nearly a year ago, laid before her, its cover a picture of her grandmother Christina LeFosse Longobucco as she was leaving Italy for America in 1920. “I never felt that I would get a publisher,” Serafino said. “I didn’t think there was anything out there.” Serafino uses BookLogix, a local publisher recommended by members of the Forsyth Writer’s Club. She has sold around 500 copies so far. Alongside the journey her family made to Ellis Island searching for a future in America, captured by oral tradition, Serafino includes adventures abroad uncovering her family’s history in Italy and Portugal. The 2024 Georgia Author of the Year Award nominee is also laden with humor found in her Brooklyn, New York, upbringing (her accent noticeable), a look into an Italian culture of superstition, like family curses and alleged “stregas,” or witches, who lived down the street.
ROI
See WRITERS, Page 15
matters.
ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic has stopped providing advocacy work for open meetings and open records, Appen Media reported May 15. Now the school’s dean, Peter “Bo” Rutledge, has announced he will vacate the position and return to the faculty at the end of the year. “The UGA School of Law is now on course to redefine what it means to be a great national public institution,” he said. The university’s press release cited numerous accomplishments from Rutledge’s almost 10 years at the helm. One of them was the expansion of the law school’s outreach programs, including the First Amendment Clinic.
See RUTLEDGE, Page 5
AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA
Barbara Gomes Serafino holds her memoir, “The Book I Always Promised.” Serafino finished her book while participating in the Forsyth Writer’s Club, a group of more than 160 members, mostly women, who have been meeting monthly for the past seven years.
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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA/PROVIDED
Peter “Bo” Rutledge instructs a class at the University of Georgia. The law school dean announced May 20 he will step down and return to faculty.
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