Prominent Southern food writers, cookbook authors and culinary instructors will gather to share favorite stories and insights into food traditions of the South today (Sunday, Feb. 15) in Chapel Hill. The public is invited.

The North Carolina Writers' Network is sponsoring the event, which will also include live bluegrass music and Southern dishes.

Tickets are $50, with proceeds going to support the work of the Writers' Network.

The panel discussion will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Horace Williams House at 610 Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill. Speakers will include:

John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed, authors of "Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue."

Bill Smith, head chef at Crook's Corner restaurant in Chapel Hill and author of "Seasoned in the South."

Debbie Moose, former food editor of The News & Observer and author of "Wings: More Than 50 High-Flying Recipes for America's Favorite Snack."

Marcie Cohen Ferris, author of "Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South."

Sheri Castle, culinary instructor and contributor to "Cornbread Nation 3."

The panel will be moderated by diet and health columnist Suzanne Havala Hobbs.

The authors will be available to sign books sold at the event.

Tickets are available at Market Street Books in Southern Village, Chapel Hill; by calling (919) 251-9140; or by visiting the North Carolina Writers' Network online www.ncwriters.org/.

Discounted annual membership rates are available at the event to first-time NCWN members for $55, or $20 off the regular rate.

The nonprofit North Carolina Writers' Network is the state's oldest and largest literary arts services organization devoted to writers at all stages of development.

Limericks Deadline

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the deadline for The Pilot's current limerick contest has been extended from Jan. 31, as previously reported, to Feb. 28. So if you missed the original deadline, you have another opportunity to submit limericks.

Here's the leading line: "Now that footballs aren't filling the air..." Does this make your life better or worse? An example from Pilot columnist Joe Piper:

Now that footballs aren't filling the air

For my family I'll have time to spare.

Gosh, my children have grown.

Who's the one on the phone?

Hey -- this card says my wife's in Times Square!

E-mail your verses to joelimericks@embarqmail.com. Or mail them to Limericks, The Pilot, PO Box 58, Southern Pines, NC 28388.

Literary Luncheon

The Friends of Given Memorial Library and Tufts Archives announce that Joanna Catherine Scott, a North Carolina author, will be featured at this year's Literary Luncheon.

Scott's most recent book is "The Road from Chapel Hill," a SIBA/Book Sense Southern Literary Best Seller. Ms. Scott's "stand-alone sequel," "Child of the South," will debut on April 3.

The Literary Luncheon is being held Saturday, March 28, noon in the Member's Club at Pinehurst Country Club. The doors will open at 11:30 a.m.

Tickets are $25 and are available at the following locations: Given Memorial Library; Given Book Shop and The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines.

Submissions

Red Clay Review, the literary magazine of Central Carolina Community College, in Sanford, invites submissions of poetry, prose, black-and-white 2-D art, and photography for its fifth annual issue, to be published in May.

The literary magazine plans to publish a variety of voices from those both within and around the college. Submissions are invited from current and former students, faculty and staff, as well as residents of the college service area, Chatham, Harnett and Lee counties.

The submission deadline is March 9.

People who may have kept their journal entries, prose writings or poems to themselves are invited to send in their literary expressions. Instructors should encourage students to submit their unique or interesting prose or poetry.

Submission guidelines for the Red Clay Review:

Prose submissions are limited to 1,500 words, typed and double-spaced.

Poetry is limited to three submissions.

Cover art submissions are limited to a single 2-D black-and-white digital image.

The name, address, phone number, and word count must appear in the upper left of the first page of each submission.

Electronic submission are preferred, but not required.

Submit prose or poetry to Joy Hewett at jhewett@cccc.edu or David Hartman at dhartman@cccc.edu. Submit artwork to Molly Luby at mluby@cccc.edu.

For more information, contact Molly Luby at (919) 718-7270 or mluby@cccc.edu.