News        from ABAC

Michael D. Chason Director of Public Relations ABAC 30 -- 2802 Moore Highway Tifton, GA 31793-2601 Phone 229-391-5055 Fax 229-391-5056 mchason@abac.edu

IMMEDIATE OCTOBER 11, 2006

RUBIO TO SPEAK AT CORDELL LECTURE NOVEMBER 6

TIFTON--Georgia author Gwyn Hyman Rubio will be the featured speaker at the next edition of the Tom M. Cordell Distinguished Lecture Series on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. in the Cordell Conference Room of the Carlton Center at Abraham Baldwin College.

This will be Rubio’s second trip to ABAC. She was a Cordell lecturer in 2002 and asked to come back because she liked the students and the college. The event is free of charge. Seating will be on a first come, first served basis.

Rubio is a native of Cordele and is known for her bestselling novel, Icy Sparks. The work won her critical acclaim, making it to Oprah’s Book Club list. She has now completed her second novel, The Woodsman’s Daughter.

The Woodsman’s Daughter takes place in the southeast Georgia lumberyards of the early twentieth century. “It’s topical because it is set in South Georgia, and it’s about forestry,” Dr. Jeff Gibbs, Chair of the ABAC Business Division, said. “Rubio tries to be historically accurate and gives a good perspective of all the people in the book.”

Rubio has received accolades for her second work of fiction. The Louisville Journal named The Woodsman’s Daughter as one of the Ten Best Books of the Year. She was a finalist for the Kentucky Literary Award for Excellence in Fiction.

“Rubio was initially hesitant in becoming an author due to her father’s experience,” Gibbs said.

Her father, author Mac Hyman, wrote the bestseller, No Time for Sergeants, which was made into a short-lived TV series and a movie that gave Andy Griffith his start in the entertainment business. Hyman never repeated the success he gained from the bestseller and died at the age of 39.

Gibbs said Rubio was fearful of becoming an author because she saw the pressure her father went through to try to duplicate the success of his first novel. But with the success of Icy Sparks, and the growing success of The Woodsman’s Daughter, Rubio’s literary career has become a fruitful one. She is working on her third book, a comedy, also set in Georgia.

The series is named in honor of Cordell, who was the director of ABAC’s continuing education program for 39 years. He retired in 1979 and passed away in 1991. Past lecturers in the series have included Andrew Young, Truett Cathy, Clyde Edgerton, Ferrol Sams, and Griffin Bell.

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