Lynchburg’s Reading Roots

Written By Grace Gardiner ‘15

Published February 2015

Ever since he was offered a position in the spring of 2013 to teach Creative Writing as a full-time member of Randolph College’s English Department, Gary Dop has been putting down roots. One of his latest endeavors, the Taproot Reading Series, reaches beyond the confines of the Red Brick Wall, aiming to spread and share the talents of Lynchburg’s local writers with the greater community.

Dop’s idea for the series germinated from the lack of any consistent event in town that highlights the gems that make up Lynchburg’s own resident writers. “The Visiting Writers Series at Randolph is phenomenal for the work it does in bringing in writers from various places across the country and from all walks of the writing life, but because of this very nature, writers that are local to Lynchburg and the areas surrounding don’t end up in the ring,” he said. “The Taproot Reading Series allows us to showcase the spectacular writers in our community and create a venue for connection among these writers and the residents of Lynchburg.” 

Besides emphasizing the breadth of exceptional writers in Lynchburg’s own backyard, the series seeks to illuminate the concept of connection in another sense—in the “beautiful connection of influence” present between the writers invited to read, their current students, and their former mentors. Each writer invited to read for the series will open his or her reading with a current student reading a piece authored by that writer’s mentor at one stage of his or her writing career. Dop commented further that the name “Taproot” is not unique to Lynchburg’s series: “I’ve used the name [Taproot] before in other series I’ve helped to initiate because it calls to mind the long chain of roots and root systems and serves to illustrate the significance of the interweaving of past and present influences for a writer.”

The Taproot Reading Series kicks off on February 26th at 7:30 p.m. at Phantastic Books downtown with readings from Randolph Professor Laura-Gray Street, Sweet Briar Professor John Casteen, and Lynchburg College Professor Allison Wilkins. As mentioned earlier, each writer will begin with a current student reading a piece from one of his or her former mentors. As an added plus, Phantastic Books will provide a limited amount of books, free of charge, by the writers scheduled to read. The next reading has already been scheduled for March 18th and will feature Randolph Professor Emeritus Dr. Jim Peterson, former Director of the Creative Writing Program; Ellen Meeropol, a friend and colleague of Randolph English Professor Bunny Goodjohn; and Vic Sizemore, an adjunct professor in the RC English Department.