Kicking off the 2012-2013 Ragan Writers Series at Weymouth will be Gary Carden, playwright and recent recipient of the 2012 North Carolina Award for Literature, the highest civilian award given by the state and presented by Gov. Bev Perdue.

Gary Carden, who lives in Sylva in the western North Carolina mountains, will perform scenes from his plays on Sunday, Nov. 18, at 3 p.m. at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., in Southern Pines. A reception follows the performance.

Carden taught English and drama for 15 years, and for another 15 years worked for the Eastern Band of Cherokees, receiving the Peace Pipe Award from the Economic Development Commission in Washington, D.C.

"The Uktena," based on a Cherokee legend, won the New Plays Festival in Atlanta in 1982. Other works include "The Raindrop Waltz," which has been performed more than 300 times; and a series of dramatic monologues: "Jessie Racer," "Nance Dude" and "Coy." His play, "Prince of Dark Corners," has been filmed and shown on PBS, and "Birdell," based on an elderly woman who lost her home in Hazel Creek when the Tennessee Valley Authority built Fontana Dam in the 1940s, is very popular in western North Carolina.

In June 2012 "The Outlander" premiered at the Parkway Playhouse in Burnsville, with a production grant from the Paul Green Foundation.

Carden's "Mason Jars in the Flood," won the Book of the Year Award from the Appalachian Writers Association.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door.

This performance is sponsored by McDonald's Restaurants of Moore County.