Book Festival features Chicken Man
Contributed by SCPA

Ernest Lee, S.C.'s Chicken Man folk artist, is the official artist of the 2008 SC Book Festival. Limited edition posters and other works by the artist will be available at the festival, which will be held February 22- 24 in Columbia.

Lee was born in Edgefield and began painting pictures at age 12. "I do it from my heart, not from pictures," Lee said. His unique brand of folk art which he creates on wood and generally features chickens has been shown at the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Alexandria, Va., the Martin Luther King Library in Washington, D.C., the South Carolina State Museum, the Augusta Chamber of Commerce, and the Rose Hill Art Center in Aiken.

The 12th annual S.C. Book Festival will be February 22- 24 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.

More than 75 authors and poets will be attending the festival including Cassandra King, Josephine Humphreys, Sallie Ann Robinson, Kwame Dawes, George Singleton, South Carolina Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth, and many others. Admission Saturday and Sunday is free. For special events, visit www.scbookfestival.org.