Bernadette Rule, author of Dark Fire, to Speak on October 30th
Jackson Purchase Historical Society will meet Oct. 30, 2021, at 10:30 AM Central Time via Zoom, viewing is available at the Graves County Public Library. We will be hosting Bernadette Rule who will talk about her book Dark Fire.
Dark Fire is a historical novel. Bernadette Rule grew up in Graves County and heard the family story of the night the Drew and Lawrence families were killed by night riders in the summer of 1921. She is related to some of those killed. The night riders were part of a violent episode in Kentucky history known as the Black Patch Wars over tobacco prices. Eleven people were murdered, in this incident, the youngest being just months old. While Rule uses the novel format, the events in the book are factual. The real names of those killed are used, while those who did the killing have been given fictional names. She has changed the names of the city of Mayfield and of Graves County, but the incidents took place here.
This book took her ten years to research, to write, and was completed in 2001. She sorted through the records and newspapers. She interviewed surviving relatives of the two families, as well as local historians. The Drew and Lawrence families are buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Mayfield, Kentucky. In August of 2021 a memorial service was held at the grave on the one hundredth anniversary of this horrible event.
Bernadette Rule was educated at Murray State and at Purdue University, and now lives in Ontario Canada. She taught English at Mohawk College. Rule serves on the executive board of The Hamilton Association for the Advancement of Literature Science and Art (haalsa.org). Besides Dark Fire she has published seven collections of poems, with an 8th, Deep Breath, due out later this year from Frog Hollow Press. Earth Day in Leith Churchyard: Poems in Search of Tom Thomson (Seraphim Editions), was shortlisted for the 2017 Hamilton Literary Award for Poetry. Her work has won the Eden Mills Poetry Prize, the Short Works Prize for Poetry, and the Short Works Prize for Creative Non-fiction. In 2017 she received the City of Hamilton Arts Award for Writing. Rule also hosts the radio program Art Waves on 101.5 The Hawk on Sunday evenings. The program is podcast at archive.org/details/artwaves.
The JPHS meetings are open to public at no cost in three different ways. At the Graves County Public Library, at 601 North 17th St. Mayfield, Ky 42066 and we will have a large screen to watch the presentation and with Zoom you will be able to ask her questions. Individuals can join via Zoom from your computer anywhere, following the instructions below, or phone using the phone in numbers and information below. Once registered you will receive the information needed to join the meeting. For help doing any of this, contact Dr. Bruce W. Dobyns, JPHS Secretary, at 309.678.8990 or go to a jacksonpurchasehistoricalsociety@gmail.com
To register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYpf-CqqDwoGtO_VNMMRYHrnlZduizY1qJ8.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the information about joining the meeting.