USA - Interview with author Carla Damron

Carla Damron’s fiction is very much inspired by her social work and social justice efforts. The themes of home, homelessness, addiction, loss, humanity, resilience, opening ourselves up, and moving forward run through her amazing literary novel and our conversation about it. 

“There are five threads in The Stone Necklace, five story arcs. I hope that you find the one that you need to read, and that it touches you the way that it needs to.” -Carla Damron

Bio:
South Carolinian Carla Damron is a fiction writer, clinical social worker, and author of the novel The Stone Necklace, the recipient of the 2017 Women’s Fiction Writers Association Star Award for Best Novel.  It was also selected the “One Community Read” novel for Columbia SC in 2016, resulting numerous book club and workshop appearances. Damron is also the author of the Caleb Knowles mystery novels Keeping Silent, Spider Blue, and Death in Zooville. Her essay, “Sarah Leverette”, was published in Setting the Supper Table, 2019. Her short stories have appeared in The Offbeat Literary Journal, Fall Lines, Six Minute Magazine, Melusine, In Posse Review, Jenny Magazine, and Jasper’s Marked by Water collection. She’s had op-eds published in Social Work Helper, the State Newspaper, and The Sumter Item newspaper.

Following a thirty-year career as a mental health therapist and program manager, Carla Damron took on the role of Executive Director for the National Association of Social Workers, SC Chapter where she conducted trainings and advocated for vulnerable populations served by her profession. Her careers of social worker and writer are intricately intertwined; all of her novels explore social issues like addiction, homelessness, mental illness, and human trafficking. Named the 2014 South Carolina Social Worker of the Year, Damron holds an MFA in creative writing and a master’s degree in social work.

Website: www.carladamron.com
Twitter: carlawritesfic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carladamronwrites/
Find The Stone Necklace at Amazon, OR, even better, order it through your local bookstore!

Enjoy!
-Lisa Carter, Founder & Creative Director of Intralingo