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Author Mark Ethridge Shares His New Novel, Grievances
On UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch,
Friday, October 13, at 9:30 PM, and Sunday, October 15, at 5 PM

For more than twenty years, the murder of a thirteen-year-old boy during a time of racial unrest in rural South Carolina has gone unpunished, unsolved, even uninvestigated. But that changes when Charlotte Times reporter Matt Harper sits down with a fellow who shows up in the newsroom—a guy with a grievance. As he struggles with his journalistic legacy, Harper comes to understand why the investigation must be pursued and why he must be the one to do it—despite the opposition of his publisher, violent threats from mysterious forces that do not want the story told, and his father’s ill health.

In this episode of UNC-TV’s local literary series, North Carolina Bookwatch, Friday, October 13, at 9:30 PM, Charlotte resident and former Charlotte Observer reporter Mark Ethridge shares his new novel Grievances—this story of newspapers, murder, and redemption— set in the rich scenery of a Savannah River town that time and justice have forgotten.

“It’s not a big leap from being a reporter and writing fiction. A lot of the tools are the same,” says Ethridge. “When you spend a lifetime in the newspaper business you understand what drama is—and what makes people’s hearts beat fast—and that’s what my job was for many years at the Charlotte Observer…to figure out what stories will compel readers.”

Ethridge puts his experience in writing, editing and publishing compelling newspaper stories in Charlotte to good use in his first novel, which focuses on the efforts of his autobiographical hero Matt Harper to uncover the truth behind an unsolved murder.

“I wanted to create, not just a page-turner, but also a story where people would read and say that they knew how a daily newspaper works now…that goes on behind the scenes,” says Ethridge. “I think people like to look to characters and the situations they’re in, and compare them to their own lives…and I hoped to do that here.”

Don’t miss D.G. Martin’s all-new interview with Mark Ethridge on North Carolina Bookwatch, Friday, October 13, at 9:30 PM, with an encore episode airing Sunday, October 15, at 5 PM, only on UNC-TV!

During this season of North Carolina Bookwatch, guests also include: Will Blythe (To Hate Like This is to be Happy Forever), John Hart (The King of Lies), Sarah Dessen (Just Listen), Kristin Henderson (While They’re at War), David Payne (Back to Wando Passo), John Hope Franklin (Mirror to America), Leah Stewart (The Myth of You and Me), Andrew Britton (The American), Allan Gurganus (New Stories of the South), Tom Carlson (Hatteras Blues), Bill Smith (Seasoned in the South), William Leuchtenburg (The White House Looks South), Dot Jackson (Refuge), Art Chansky (Blue Blood),  Paul Leonard (Music of a Thousand Hammers), and Angela Davis-Gardner (Plum Wine).

For more information about additional series guests and airdates, plus, the all-new Bookwatch blog and online book club, please visit: www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

Funding for North Carolina Bookwatch is provided by UNC-TV members and by Quail Ridge Books and Music, Raleigh’s independent, full service bookstore, bringing readers and writers together since 1984.

North Carolina Bookwatch is part of UNC-TV’s ongoing commitment to produce programs for and about North Carolina. UNC-TV is the statewide 11-station broadcast network of the University of North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

For more information about North Carolina Bookwatch and UNC-TV’s other local productions, please visit our website at www.unctv.org.

—UNC-TV—