The Belle of Amherst 

The Friends of the Whitesburg Public Library will present the play, “The Belle of Amherst,” by William Luce at 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 17, at the Tallapoosa Wellness Collective. No tickets or reservations are required, and donations will be appreciated. All proceeds will benefit the library. The play about Emily Dickinson will be performed by Sybil Rosen, a lifetime member of the Friends of the Whitesburg Public Library and an award-winning playwright, novelist and actress.

The “Belle of Amherst” is an intimate glimpse into the life of our most loved – and least known – American poet, Emily Dickinson. By turns, funny, poignant, lyrical, and wise, the one-woman play investigates the poet’s unusual life – her self-imposed seclusion, the close circle of family, her writing life, and the men who loved her. I’ve loved Emily Dickinson’s poetry for a long time. And when I discovered “The Belle of Amherst,” I fell in love with her. The beauty of performing the play is that, for about an hour, I get to be a genius.

-Sybil Rosen

“The Whitesburg Public Library is so fortunate to have Sybil Rosen here in our community. She is a talented and professional actress and author,” said Jackie Pate, president of the Friends of the Whitesburg Public Library. Sybil has been nominated for Chicago’s Jefferson Award for Best Actress. Her novel for young adults, “Speed of Light,” won the Sydney Taylor Award for Older Readers. As a writer, her film narration was nominated for an Academy Award, and she won an Emmy for Best Writing on the Daytime Serial “Guiding Light.” Recently she co-wrote the screenplay with Ethan Hawke for the movie BLAZE, which Hawke directed, and which is based on her “Living in the Woods in a Tree,” a memoir about life in a Carroll County tree house with Texas music legend Blaze Foley.

For more information about the play, contact the Whitesburg Public Library at 770-834-0713 or the Tallapoosa Wellness Collective at 678-390-4601.