Scroll
Featured
Past Events
Marietta Talks Leaving 1203 While Savoring Hershey’s Chocolates!
C’mon and toast October beauty with Marietta and hosts Jan and Robin at their 1804 home. Marietta looks forward to seeing friends old and new and you’re welcome to invite others to join our party – tote along lawn chairs if easy. Gates open at 1 and the jolly, interactive book talk starts at 2—rain or shine, warm or cool.
Join Marietta for a festive morning at Charlottesville’s truly welcoming-to-one-and-all Center. She loves telling the story of what she discovered during the three months spent emptying her childhood home beloved by four generations. Leaving 1203 offers a look back at forever lessons the author relearned….
Come to our premiere gathering spot in early May. Bookstore owner Mary Katharine and her longtime accomplice Marietta welcome you to Stone Soup Books for a bit of book talk and big creative adventure.
Come celebrate April’s beauty with Marietta at the home of Rabbi Rain Zohav. Bringing joyful tidings and laughter, Marietta looks forward to seeing friends old and new, and you’re welcome to invite others to join our party.
Come celebrate the coming new year at Marietta’s all-time favorite indie bookstore—ever-charming Stone Soup Books in downtown Waynesboro.
Road trip! Native Virginian sets her first sights on Mineral, VA….
Wanda Jackson belts it out: “Let’s Have a Party.” Join Marietta and her hosts Jan and Robin for a wildly interactive book talk, tasty food and drink staples featured in Leaving 1203, and explore the lovely setting.
Marietta joins Jazz Messenger Brian Keena in the WTJU studio, two longtime friends talking together about putting to good use—right now—the lessons found in Leaving 1203.
This event will be rescheduled. Look for a new date in the coming months. Peace.
What a Saturday jamboree in Morehead City!
This event will be rescheduled. Look for a new date in the coming months. Peace.
It’s Spring, which means that Marietta returns in flip flops to North Carolina’s lovely Crystal Coast. She will speak at St. Francis by the Sea about saying goodbye to her childhood home—her approach and the ultimate triumph of joy and gratitude.
Marietta joins in the fun in the Recreational Therapy Room at The Virginia Home.
Featuring many of the authors who spoke at Chop Suey Bookstore in 2019, this annual event at Hardywood is always a big draw for readers and holiday shoppers.
After a fine time in April celebrating the Home’s 125th birthday with staff members and volunteers, Marietta returns for a party with residents and their families.
Marietta gets off the mat and heads to the Conference Room for a return visit with ACAC members at Albemarle Square.
At the invitation of organizers of the Episcopalian Tri-Diocesan Fall Camp, Marietta travels to beautiful Shrine Mont, nestled in the Shenandoah Valley at the foot of Great North Mountain.
Marietta welcomes writers of all persuasions to Charlottesville for a two-day workshop on the art of finding your words.
Back by popular demand! Come for a taste of southern cooking and Sunday relaxation reminiscent of patio days celebrated in Leaving 1203.
Ward Tefft and his popular Chop Suey Books welcomes Marietta for a lively 6pm talk, warming up with a casual meet and chat at 5:30.
Marietta will be interviewed on KWMR’s popular show, “Pieces of Peace,” by host Susan Santiago.
Marietta visits Colonnades residents and their guests, staff and administrators to talk about Home.
Marietta welcomes the invitation to speak with a group representing all those involved in caring for patients and families at the Jack Byrne Center.
Tune in for Marietta's interview with her favorite interviewer, Sarah McConnell, host of "With Good Reason."
Marietta is back at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women for a PVCC Creative Writing class.
Marietta travels over Afton Mountain for dinner with Friends of the Waynesboro Public Library.
During her college summers, Marietta spent time with residents at The Virginia Home where her mother, June, worked in the Occupational Therapy Room. She writes in Leaving 1203: “I received an incomparable education at The Home, where residents played the hand dealt with style, grace, and humor. Each individual won my heart as I watched one after another seize every joy possible.”
Marietta returns to the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, participating in two English classes taught by Piedmont Community College Professor Ben Sloan.
Marietta joins other guest speakers participating in the Seventh Annual UVA Women’s Midlife Symposium.
News
Recent Blogs
Featured
four-legged Luna / watches her namesake show off / best moon pie dog treat. The wind hints at rain so we see grandpa off and head for home, its windows “brazen in the setting sun.” pansy faces wink / as four Beatles sing their song / “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
Gloria Johnson, Letitia James, Bayard Rustin...Trust, Activism, Determination. "Nothing that’s easy is worth it / Nothing that’s worth it is perfect, yeah.” Yeah. Hearing someone say “I would take it all for ya.” Yeah. Saying to someone “I would take it all for ya.” Yeah. "Let It Be Me" sing the Backstreet Boys.
Yes, bravehearts, Harry Dunn and E. Jean Carroll. And two more for Valentine’s Day. Exquisite sweetness. Two songs—two songstresses. Back then—right now. Comeback players—heart massagers.
From samba and tapas to voting rights and college hoops. Maybe a poem now. Two? Perhaps a song. Dos? I think I see you. Quaffing our tumblers, here’s to beauty’s sweetest sweep.
For your bookshelf...
Books
Told with McCarty’s characteristic wisdom, marvel, exuberance, and good will, Leaving 1203 is about navigating that way through. The author draws on all available resources—friends and strangers, food and laughter, life lessons learned in the very house she now empties, and, not least, her newly-inherited West Highland terrier, Billy. McCarty simultaneously learns and deftly teaches the fine arts of remembering, letting go, and holding on to what matters most. She not only finds the way through, she shows the way.
the greatest gift an author could give a reader… lessons of a universally philosophical and existential kind… a touching journey… a welcome, upbeat ride
Based on McCarty's longtime and ongoing work with child philosophers, Little Big Minds serves as a guide for any adult wanting to converse with children about fifteen essential ideas. Filled with anecdotes, teaching tips, discussion questions, activities, and resources.
something of immense importance... a ray of light... indispensable... inspiring... that central hope...
What ten ideas, if better understood, would make for a good life? Those showcased in How Philosophy Can Save Your Life! Selections of prose and poetry, music and movies enhance discussion and reflection of the ten: simplicity, belonging, serenity....
Stimulating... enjoyable... moving... life-changing...
Travel around the world at home, gathered round your dinner table! Breaking bread over good conversation, dining philosophers discuss topics as they explore 12 regions.
Thinking, talking, cooking, listening. Light the candles.
enchanting... a feast... clear, thoughtful, musical, sensory...
Bloom in April alongside Marietta in Charlottesville! Join in for a lively, interactive talk on her latest book titled Leaving 1203: Emptying a Home, Filling the Heart.