Local teacher, writer presents his tale at Southern storytelling radio show

BATESVILLE — A Southside High School teacher recently told his tale as part of the radio show Tales From the South, which is aired in more than 30 countries worldwide.

Tim Bennett, a Spanish teacher and Creative Writing Club adviser at Southside High School, was one of three writers who were chosen to participate in the weekly show.

Taped live at the Starving Artist Café in North Little Rock on July 26, the show will air on KUAR-FM 89.1 at 7 p.m. Aug. 15.

Those who want to listen online can go to www.kuar.

org and click on the orange “listen live” button on the right of the main web pagefor streaming audio.

The show is also carried and distributed by National Public Radio’s Worldwide Radio Network, which distributes media around the world.

The show will be carried by WRN on Aug. 18.

Tales From the South is a radio show created by Paula Martin Morell, who is also the show’s host.

“The night is a cross between a house concert and a reading/show, with incredible food and great company,” according to information from the event’s website talesfromthesouth.com.” “While the show itself is unrehearsed, the literary memoirs have been worked on for weeks leading up to the readings. Stories range fromfunny to touching, from everyday occurrences to lifealtering tragedies. (It) … is uniquely Southern, in that while we don’t require that stories are set in the South (though a majority are), writers must be either originally from the South or live here currently, and the distinct Southern art of storytelling rich in language, detail and voice is alive in all of them.

“Contributors are from all walks of life and include professional writers as well as those who have never been published.” Bennett, a former radio news director and newspaper feature writer and reporter, has also written freelance articles for a national magazine.

He said it wasn’t until last summer that he began writing again.

“The Arkansas Delta Writing Project, which is an intense writing experience for teachers from different disciplines to support literacy in the classroom, really activated my creative writing,” Bennett said. “I appreciated the encouragement I received.” “My first job out of college was as an assistant circulation manager in a small northern Louisiana town, and the piece is called, ‘Stop That Paperman!’” Bennett said.

For more information, contact Tim Bennett at 870-834-0047 or w hirlw ind@suddenlink.

net.

Three Rivers, Pages 133 on 07/31/2011

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