Authors are an eclectic bunch. Some are pithy. Some are verbose. Some are brooding, some exuberant. Some scholarly, some spacey. Some modest, some not so modest.

Gather 50 of them in a room together, and the wild discussion that ensues borders on a spectator sport.

That was the atmosphere as hundreds came out to the first Haywood High Country Book Fair held at the newly completed Haywood County Justice Center in Waynesville on Saturday, Aug. 6. Osondu Booksellers, Writers Alive!, leaders of local writers’ groups, and the Haywood County Friends of the Library coordinated and scheduled the day-long event which featured dozens of booths for attending authors, book signings, lectures, raffle prizes, and a “Moveable Feast” luncheon at Nick ‘n’ Nates restaurant, where book fans got to meet and eat with visiting authors.

These writers included novelists, poets, young adult authors, newspaper columnists, travel and outdoors writers, humorists, romance novelists, storytellers, and horror and suspense authors. Highlighting this distinguished list were award-winning poets and novelists such as Robert Morgan, Fred Chappell and Ron Rash and many other favorites such as historical fiction author Charles Price, columnist Susan Reinhardt, and the Appalachian storytellers known as the Ammons sisters.

Organizers had been planning the book fair since February with the intention of inviting a who’s who smorgasbord of authors from around the western part of the state and Southeast. While many of the authors who came live in and around Western North Carolina, some writers came from as far away as Los Angeles. Others, who were already “booked up,” expressed interest in being a part of next year’s book fair.

Authors ranged in topic and style from Thomas Rain Crowe, poet, translator and author of the philosophical, back-to-the-land memoir Zoro’s Field to Judy Alexander Coker, author of Cataloochee Cooking, to James Joyce, author of the Vietnam memoir Pucker Factor 10. There was an author of genealogical how-to books — including one that proves John Kerry and George Bush are tenth cousins — while another how-to author helps people overcome a fear of doctors and hospitals. There was even an author who wrote about authors — the self-described literary gadfly Stephen Kirk who wrote Scribblers: Stalking the Authors of Appalachia. Kirk apparently isn’t alone.

About 1,000 people ventured through the book fair and not just those looking to buy new and interesting books. For aspiring writers, it was a chance to meet their heroes and heroines of the literary world, and discuss plots, characters, genres, and publishing.

Osondu book store will donate $1,000 each to the Haywood County Friends of the Library and the education fund of Writers Alive!, a Western North Carolina writers’ group, from the proceeds of the sales. Many of the authors attending the book fair left autographed copies of their books, which are available at Osondu Booksellers, located in downtown Waynesville, across the street from the Haywood County courthouse.