WALTER BENNETT is a writer and former lawyer, judge, and law professor living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His first novel, Leaving Tuscaloosa, won The Alabama Author’s Award, and was a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and the Crook’s Corner Book Prize for debut novels set in the American South. He is a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
A riveting American journey through the fires of the antebellum South, when her world collapsed, her fight for survival began…
Aramenta Burgwyn, born the privileged daughter of a Southern planter before the Civil War, has long harbored a quiet suspicion: her mother is not white, but Henrietta, a striking, mixed-race slave. When her father dies, her aunt seizes the estate and Aramenta is sold into slavery. Reborn as Sayla, she must navigate the horrors of bondage and the fractured landscape of the Civil War. Through brutality, betrayal, and unimaginable hardship, Sayla fights for freedom, identity, and dignity, carving a path toward a life she refuses to surrender.
Date: Friday, December 4th 2026
Location: Caffe Piccolo- 9428 Ocean Hwy Pawleys Island, SC 29585
Time: 10:45AM-1:00PM
Your Ticket Includes:
Guaranteed seating via our curated seating chart (no rushing for a spot).
An intimate talk and Q&A with Walter Bennett.
A multi-course lunch, dessert, and beverages provided by Caffe Piccolo.
A dedicated window for personalized book signing and a brief meet-and-greet.
The Opportunity to purchase a signed copy of Sayla Is My Name.
Refund Policy- Thank you for signing up for an event at Litchfield Books! Cards will be charged upon time of ticket purchase. We will refund your ticket, excluding our merchant banker convenience fee and credit card reversal fee. Cancellations are accepted up until seven days prior to the event date. If the cancellation is past the seven days you will not be offered a refund but you will be offered the signed copy of the event book.