Stella Cooper Mitchell to speak at the Fayette County Public Library

Local funny lady Stella Cooper Mitchell will take center stage at the Fayette County Public Library in Fayetteville on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. The author will read from her new comedic book, “The Original Big Hair Girls.”

The audience will have an opportunity to ask questions and enjoy complimentary light refreshments. The author will sign copies of the book, which will be on sale at the event.

Mitchell, or “Miss Stella” as she is fondly known, is a retired Fayette County teacher who says, “I am selling laughter. For 64 years I have made it my life’s goal to make people laugh.” Her first book, “Walking Ivy’s Path,” published in 2006, told the laugh-out-loud story of Alice Ivy and her surrogate brother George, two “unfortunate looking” children growing up in a dysfunctional family in Pea Ridge, Tennessee in the 1950s. Mitchell wrote the book for everyone who has ever felt “picked on, not cute enough, not rich enough” and who wants “to get even.”

In “The Original Big Hair Girls,” Sadie Songbird, also of Pea Ridge, relates her madcap adventures in high school and college, as the 1950s roll into the 1960s. Alice Ivy and George reappear in the new book, along with a full cast of outrageous characters, both on the home front and on campus.

The reader learns valuable life lessons from Sadie and her friends, such as how to tell a “raised right” girl from a “wild” girl from a “trashy” girl. Zany escapades abound, as three green country girls explore the wide world beyond Pea Ridge, getting in and out of trouble, and finding out things are not always what they seem. Mitchell has been an audience favorite at the library in the past because her expressive reading brings her comical characters and situations to life.

The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Fayette County Public Library and the Friends of the Fayette County Public Library.

The Fayette County Public Library is located at 1821 Heritage Park Way in Fayetteville. For additional information, please contact the library at 770-461-8841.

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