Writer’s Crush: Celestine Sibley

Celestine Sibley

“When I saw him heading for my office, looking a little like a dressed-up poodle dog in his white tie and tails, I knew what he was looking for. And I was dimly conscious of the fact that Johnny had flicked on the light in the little cubicle where, under Paula’s ladylike lash, I’d come to labor… I was sitting there next to my beat-up Royal, savoring the sound and the smell of the news room, exchanging flippancies with the boys ranged round the copy desk….” From The Malignant Heart, a murder mystery published in 1958.

“Sometimes going to a country courtroom was like going back to another century. There would be a water bucket and dipper instead of drinking fountains, spittoons for all the tobacco chewers (and they were numerous), the festivity of country-come-to-town for Big Court. An entrepreneur named Dock sold spring lizards to fishermen on the Blairsville courthouse lawn in the mountains, local church ladies offered gingerbread and cider for sale, there was a spirited traffic in coon-hound trading, and in the courtroom an audience pitifully, acutely vulnerable to judgment and punishment, the real commodities of the day.” From Turned Funny, memoir

“An aging spoiled actress, who had agreed to be the guest of honor at one large party…while she was at Rich’s modeling clothes, decided at the last minute that she wouldn’t go. It was a cocktail party and she used that as an excuse. “I don’t HAVE to go,” she said petulantly, still lounging in her bed when Miss Poland went by her hotel to pick her up. “I don’t even drink.” Miss Poland equably pointed out that the hosts would be disappointed but agreed tht the actress did not HAVE to go. She left quietly without even asking why a non-drinker had so many empty beer bottles beside her bed.”  From Dear Store, a history of Rich’s department store

“The roof on Sweet Apple’s cabin still has a slight resemblance to a drunk’s hat– a go-funny list that no amount of measuring and finagling around with plumb lines could alter. I think it has something to do with the basic, stubborn character of the cabin itself.” From A Place Called Sweet Apple

“What it was not was baseball. What it was was the Beatles. That commotion  at Atlanta Stadium wednesdaynight was 30-odd thousand teen-age children and a few assorted parents giving the British mophead musicians a tumultuous welcome. For a brief half-hour John, Paul, George and Ringo twisted and shuffled, sbnorted and yodeled from center field of the beautiful new stadium, climaxing a day which saw several hundred teenagers shrilling and clawing at the entrance to the ballpark as early as 9 a.m.” From a news report in Atlanta Constitution 8/19/1965

Celestine Sibley was a writer, newspaper reporter and columinst for Atlanta newspapers. She wrote books about her southern upbringing and life in Atlanta and her country cabin. For the Atlanta Constitution she covered everything over her 58 year tenure there: murders, celebrities, gardens, politics, disasters. I grew up reading her lifestyle column, and it was her writing style that captured my attention far more than any of her content. She had a way of describing something so you understood what it was about. She tossed words around in ways that were not as stiff as most newspaper writers: she could give you the story while telling you an entertaining story. Her style was what every writer ought to aspire to: it was a reflection of who she was. Reading her work, you get the feeling you know who she was.

More information about Celestine Sibley, and a list of her books can be found at: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/55512.Celestine_Sibley