ECU News Services

As a child growing up in Rhode Island, East Carolina University professor Gregory Funaro had long suspected that the statues surrounding his grandfather’s pool came alive at night.

Decades after he shrugged off of the notion, the idea of sculptures as living beings — or, rather, living beings as sculptures — stuck with him. It was this memory, recalled while stuck in Fifth Street traffic, that would form the basis of Funaro’s first novel, “The Sculptor.”

“What if somebody made live people into statues?” wondered Funaro, an associate professor of theater.

“The idea of serial killing as sculpture and a serial killer obsessed with Michelangelo kind of evolved from that,” he said.

“The Sculptor,” which hit bookstores Dec. 24, introduces readers to Sam Markham, an FBI agent with a knack for tracking down serial killers. Markham is tasked with his most puzzling case yet: A missing professional football player has been found murdered, posed like a famous statue.

With art historian Cathy Hildebrant by his side, Markham must find the so-called Michelangelo Killer before he kills again.

That an idea for a thriller would come from a childhood memory is not surprising to Funaro, who believes it’s important for writers to remain true to their voices and experiences.

“You can’t try to guess the market, you can’t try to guess what’s going to sell,” he said. “You’ve just got to write something that you care about, that you love, that you’re passionate about and then worry how it’s going to fit in later.”

That philosophy seems to be working.

“The Sculptor” has earned accolades from masters of the mystery/thriller genre, including New York Times best-selling authors Gregg Olsen and Kevin O’Brien.

Some have drawn parallels between Funaro’s novel and Thomas Harris’ “Silence of the Lambs.” Already, German and Russian language rights to the book have been sold.

The book has been a strong seller at Greenville’s Barnes and Noble, where Funaro signed books Jan. 14.

“It’s been selling incredibly well, especially for a first novel,” said Rob McDaniel, community relations manager for the Evans Street location.

“For the past week-and-a-half, two weeks, we’ve been getting calls nonstop about it.”

Funaro has a prequel to “The Sculptor” due out next January. He also has just finished a third novel, a family saga set in the 1940s that he wrote before “The Sculptor” and recently rewrote.

Around ECU, Funaro is known chiefly for his work in the School of Theatre and Dance, where he teaches, acts and directs. He wrote “The Sculptor” in the hours between those duties, usually getting by on four or five hours of sleep.

“I just felt like I was on fire doing it,” he said. “I was just really excited about the story. I look back, and I don’t know how I did it with that little sleep. There are literally portions of the book that I have absolutely no memory of writing.”

Had he known the travails a first-time novelist faces when trying to get published, Funaro said, he might never have written that first took. “Just to get an agent to read even the first 25 pages, the first chapter, was almost impossible. At least it seemed next to impossible, for me,” he said.

His experience as an actor influences his writing, he said, and helps him develop characters, craft dialogue and overcome writer’s block.

“I would find myself acting out characters as I was writing, especially in the second book, the prequel to ‘The Sculptor,’” Funaro said. “I would find myself talking the way the characters talked, trying to look around my office and see things the way the character might see things.”

Becoming a first-time novelist differs from acting in one important respect, however: the lasting nature of the written word.

“In the theatre, if you’ve got a night that doesn’t go very well, you can make it up the next night,” he said. “This an entirely different process. It’s new and exciting and scary at the same time.”

Former park service director to speak

Fran P. Mainella, the first woman to lead the National Park Service, will present “Nature Deficit Disorder and Its Implications on Human Well-Being,” at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Murphy Center at ECU. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2001, Mainella served as the 16th director of the National Park Service. Prior to her nearly six years as the national director, she served 12 years as Florida State Parks director.

Under her leadership, Florida received the Gold Medal Award recognizing excellence in the field of recreation management given jointly by the National Sporting Goods Association and the National Recreation and Park Association.

“We are pleased to welcome Fran Mainella to East Carolina University as the keynote speaker in the Ralph Steele Visiting Lecture Series. Mainella’s contributions to the National Park System have encouraged active lifestyles through volunteerism and local partnerships. Her influence has brought linkage between active living and the environment,” said Glen Gilbert, dean of the College of Health and Human Performance.

Among her honors, Mainella received the 2007 Pugsley Award, the highest award given by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration.

She is a visiting scholar at Clemson University in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management.

After-school music program offered

The ECU School of Music will again present an after-school vocal music program for local children during the spring semester. The program is for children in grades 3-5, ages 8-11. No audition is required.

“Kids Music: After-School Vocal Music Program” will begin on Feb. 1 and be held each Monday from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Cost for the spring session is $30 per family.

Parents or guardians interested in signing up children for the program should e-mail Dr. Jeffrey Ward at wardj@ecu.eduwith the following information: child’s name, grade and school, parents’ names, phone number and e-mail address.

Health symposium scheduled for Feb. 5

Race, stress and health will be the main topics of the sixth annual Jean Mills Health Symposium on Feb. 5 in Greenville.

The keynote speaker will be Sherman A. James, the Susan B. King Professor of Public Policy Studies in the Terry Sanford Institute for Public Policy at Duke University. James’ research focuses on the social determinants of racial and ethnic health inequalities and community-based and public policy interventions designed to minimize and eliminate inequalities. His talk begins at 9:15 a.m. in the Hilton Greenville.

The symposium will feature experts from ECU and across the state. Topics will include how race, stress and health contribute to health disparities in rural eastern North Carolina.

Posters and presentations will describe research, programs and services directed toward the causes and effects of stress in underrepresented populations and ways to promote wellness and reduce health disparities.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the symposium will be held 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Hilton Greenville. Early registration by Jan. 30 is $35 or $20 for students.

The fee includes morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch and educational sessions. Continuing education units are available. Registration information is available at http://eahec.ecu.edu or by calling Eastern AHEC at 744-2587.

ECU Breast Wellness Center accredited

The Breast Wellness Center at ECU has received accreditation from a national agency.

The National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, part of the American College of Surgeons, has given its stamp of approval to ECU’s program. ECU demonstrated compliance with standards of leadership, clinical management, research, community outreach, professional education and quality improvement. The accreditation period is for three years.

The Breast Wellness Center is part of the Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center. Physicians there care for patients from all across eastern North Carolina. Dr. Lisa Bellin, clinical associate professor of surgery at ECU, is the interim director.

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday: Betsy Myers, a senior advisor to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, will present “Leadership and the Moments that Matter,” 3 p.m., Wright Auditorium. Sponsored by the College of Business. Free.

Tuesday: Voyages of Discovery: Jarvis Lecture on Christianity and Culture lecture with Walter Brueggemann, an Old Testament scholar and author, 7 p.m., Wright Auditorium. Free.

See www.ecu.edu/cs-ecu/calendar.cfmfor times, places and more information on these events and other ECU upcoming activities.