Video Librarian
November-December 1995
"Three-and-a-half Stars."
"While the bane of most author profiles is that they adopt the
straightforward talking-head interview format...the Signature:
Contemporary Southern Writers series is a full-blooded documentary, in
which the interview is just one component."
"A natural for library collections, this is highly recommended."
Booklist
November 15, 1995
Review of the program on Bobbie Ann Mason
"Reminiscences from Mason's former teachers, literary colleagues, and
family members mix with readings by the author, while voice-over
narration embellishes scenic footage of the South."
"...Film clips, family photos, and casual at-home scenes further
personalize this refreshing, breeze profile of the self-described
'country girl' who has made her mark in contemporary literature."
The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY
January 1995
"Signature, the video programs about Bobbie Ann Mason, Ed McClanahan and
Marsha Norman, humanize the creative process by letting viewers follow
the writers back to their home towns, and showing that writers draw ideas
from many fountains."
Ace Magazine, Lexington, KY
February 1995
"The writers profiled share the time-honored dictum of writing about what
you know; they use their experiences growing up in Kentucky and setting
out into the world as starting points for their fiction. Finally,
Signature's successful writers exhibit a crucial ability to persevere,
enduring rejection and self-doubt to find the strength to write and
rewrite until they get it right."
Courier Journal, Louisville, KY
February 1995
"The Signature series illustrates how writers have to employ the old
fashioned values of patience and perseverance. People think that writers
just sit around and have ideas and write them down quickly - Signature
demonstrates another old fashioned value that writers have to practice,
which is diligence."
Kentucky Press Service, Inc., Frankfort, KY
February 1995
"The Signature series tries to demystify authors' lifestyles and the
writing process. It looks at where the authors grew up and how they
formed their particular styles. The purpose for the series is to show the
truth about literature in this state."
