Local Contributes to Chicken Soup Book Series

Local Rice resident, Mary Carroll-Hackett, was recently chosen as one of the one hundred and one authors to have their stories published in the latest edition of the well-known series of   inspirational volumes, Chicken Soup for the Soul. This newest edition, Hopes and Miracles is a collection of stories in which the authors share their own inspirational and sometimes life changing experiences with the powers of “… hope, faith, answered prayers, and divine intervention.” (Edwards, 2014) The contribution by Mary Carroll-Hackett is an intimate and hopeful glimpse into the power of true, eternal love as it assuages the pain of the most devastating loss. It is entitled The Touch of Love.

The contribution to Chicken Soup for the Soul is just one of the hundreds of poems and stories penned by the well-published author and current Professor of Creative Writing at Longwood University. Actually, the prolific, yet soulful and at times provocative, writer’s work has been published in more than one hundred journals including the Carolina Quarterly, Clackamas Literary Review, Pedestal Magazine, The Potomac, Stone Table Review, Reed and the list goes on.  She is a recipient of the Williamette Award for Fiction as well as being named a North Carolina Blumenthal Writer. Her book, The Real Politics of Lipstick won the 2010 annual poetry competition by Slipstream. Mary’s most recent release, If We Could Know Our Bones, came out in 2014.

The professor’s true calling however, in spite of all of the awards for literary achievement and accolades bestowed upon her, is to teach. There was no creative writing program prior to her arrival at Longwood University. Today, her classes are sought after by students.  The success of the program is due in no small part to Mary’s consistent urging of her students to dig deeper and look closer as they learn the creative writing process. For many the experience is completely novel. She is patient yet steady. Her constant urging to not settle, coupled with the word of mouth experiences of past students,  has created a steady stream of young people eager and willing to learn from the practical, no nonsense, even tough, some students would say, yet caring and maternal professor with the unmistakable Carolina accent.

Her office door is well camouflaged with hundreds of  notes – layers and layers of one liners, quips and heartfelt epiphanies – quickly written on post-its or scraps of legal and notebook paper, the thoughts and feelings of her students, no doubt left behind at her urging to “let me know what how you feel– what’s on your mind?” They seem to serve as signals of her students’ progress; for some, an awakening as they encounter new thoughts and feelings for the first time. For others, the notes document a quickening, personal realizations as students learn to utilize those feelings in a piece of their own literature.

Professor Carroll-Hackett, in addition to teaching classes at Longwood University and writing her own personal works, also finds the time to  coach and teach creative writing at a beautiful, quiet retreat known as The Porches in Norwood, Virginia. The large, old, historic farmhouse nestled in the hills on the James River is the perfect setting for creating and has become a  sought after destination for artists and writers since it opened in 2006.

The book, Chicken Soup for the Soul can be purchased from major retailers such as Walmart or it can be found online at sites such as Amazon.com. The numerous volumes of feel-good, true, inspirational stories collected under the catchphrase title reach back more than twenty years. Today, it is even available in a digital ebook version to be read on any of the popular computer applications.

Mary Carroll-Hackett continues to teach and write, both at Longwood University and at the retreat in the hills, The Porches. She eagerly awaits the release of her latest book, If We Could Know our Bones. Additionally, she is currently working on a memoir.