Author John Hart closed out the English-Speaking Union's season on a high note Wednesday, May 14, at the Country Club of North Carolina.

Hart was introduced by David Woronoff, publisher of The Pilot. Hart and Woronoff were classmates at Woodberry Forest School in Virginia.

"A family friend, recalling that John and I had been classmates, called to tell me about John's first book," said Woronoff.

The two reconnected when Hart came to The Country Bookshop for a booksigning upon the release of "The King of Lies."

"It's nice to be in front of not only a high school classmate, but two college classmates," said Hart. Dr. Carter Grine and his wife, Susan, were at Davidson College with Hart, and attended the dinner.

Hart, a Durham native who grew up in Salisbury, regaled the audience with the tale of how he came to be a writer.

"I was a pre-med major for the first two years, then realized I had no desire to be a doctor," he said. "I decided I needed to go to France for a while and learn French."

Upon his return, Hart changed his major to French literature.

"There is a bumper sticker out there that reads 'Davidson Graduate Will Think for Food,'" he said. "So I ended up working for Wachovia. I took some accounting classes and decided to get a master's degree in accounting."

Hart related that when he arrived at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the powers-that-be expressed concerns about his GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Council) test results.

"My verbal scores were much higher than my quantitative scores," he said. "That year was so difficult. It forced me to stop talking about writing a book and actually write one -- and it was really bad."

Hart decided he should be a lawyer, so he attended Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H.

"I thought maybe I should write another book -- a 'commercial thriller,'" he said. "It was better, but still pretty bad."

Hart married and moved back to Salisbury, taking a job as an attorney.

One particular case made him do some soul-searching.

"And then I decided that maybe it was time to write another book," he said. "I had two graduate degrees, a stay-at-home wife, and a child, so I decided I needed to quit my job."

Hart's wife, Katie, had read his first two books -- and was not impressed.

"I secretly wrote the opening scene for 'King of Lies' that I hoped would please her," said Hart. "She took the pages in the other room and stayed there for a long time."

When Katie returned, she told her husband, "John, you are never going to work another day job in your life."

"She was willing to get behind me," said Hart.

Surprisingly, one person who was encouraging was his father-in-law.

"He told me that if I did not do this, I would regret it the rest of my life," said Hart, who gave himself 12 months to write the book.

"It took a year to find an agent," he said. "The entire process took from July 2002 to the release of the book in May 2006."

During that time, Hart took a position with Merrill Lynch in Greensboro, but in 2005, he officially became a full-time writer.

"I have a small office nearby with no distractions," he said.

Hart currently lives in Greensboro with his wife, Katie, a Duke graduate, and daughters, Sophie and Saylor.

Winners Honored

Honored during the evening were Michael Norman and Tracy Metcalf, both of whom made trips to England on teacher fellowships provided by the E-SU.

Norman, who teaches theater and Spanish at The O'Neal School, studied theater theory and practice at the Globe in London. He has been active in bringing theater to The O'Neal School and has also been active in community theater.

Metcalf, who teaches at Union Pines High School, was the recipient of the Walter Hines Page Scholarship, which is unique to the Sandhills chapter. Metcalf, a social studies teacher, studied literature and the arts while in England, with a particular eye to the public versus private school systems.

This year's speaking contest winner was Ian Shearer, a student at Pinecrest High School, who represented the U.S. at the International Public Speaking Contest in London this month.

"I can't express how amazing it was," he said. "I am grateful to you for giving me one of the greatest experiences of my life."

The mission of the E-SU is to "promote scholarship and the advancement of knowledge through the effective use of English in the global community."

Contact Faye Dasen at fdasen@thepilot.com or 693-2475.