Excellence in creative writing for former librarian

Donna Bunting Flake received the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for excellence in creative writing for her book, “The Haunted Life of Lura.” Flake is a Greenville native and former librarian who served in multiple roles at East Carolina University.

She earned a master’s degree from ECU along with a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She worked as a librarian on ECU’s Health Sciences Campus and on main campus.

Donna Flake, left, receives the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award from Kim Fulcher, president of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of North Carolina. (Contributed photo)

The award was presented to Flake, a writer and researcher who graduated from J.H. Rose High School and is a past president of the Greenville Choral Society, by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of North Carolina at their annual conference in Charlotte on April 22.

“I am honored to receive the award. Receiving the award was definitely a great highlight for me,” Flake said.

Flake held book readings in the ECU library’s Janice Hardison Faulkner Gallery and other locations throughout the state while promoting the Southern gothic novel, “The Haunted Life of Lura.”

“The Haunted Life of Lura” is set in Tarboro, Wilson and Raeford. It is a portrait of Lura’s yearnings for love, permanency and acceptance. The book was inspired by actual events, including murder, dismemberment, suicide and elderly Southern sisters who sequester themselves in a crumbling mansion.

The book is available for purchase at University Book Exchange in Greenville, the gift shop at ECU Health Medical Center and on Amazon.com.