All schools in Upshur County will close at 1 p.m. today. All B-UHS sporting events today are canceled.

Folklife Center set to host Pearl S. Buck portrayal

Actress, playwright, and storyteller Karen Vuranch will present a first-person portrayal of award-winning author and West Virginia native Pearl S. Buck at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 13, at The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center. This event is free and open to the public.

The Frank and Jane Gabor WV Folklife Center is dedicated to the identification, preservation, and perpetuation of our region’s rich cultural heritage. Vuranch’s presentation is part of The Women’s Lyceum, a celebration of Appalachian Women.

For this event Vuranch will be presenting novelist Pearl S. Buck who was born on June 26, 1892 as Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Her parents were Southern Presbyterian missionaries who were stationed in China where she lived most of her life.

Pearl S. Buck published over 100 novels, 73 short stories, and more than 200 articles. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel “The Good Earth” and was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pearl Buck was a social activist and humanitarian, speaking up on a number of causes, including civil rights, women’s rights and children’s causes. Karen Vuranch, as Pearl S. Buck relates the Asian culture through the eyes of an American woman living in China. Her presentation is known as a moving portrayal of one of the important women of the twentieth century.

Karen Vuranch has a master’s in Humanities from West Virginia Graduate College and teaches theatre, speech, and Appalachian Studies at Concord University in Athens, West Virginia. In addition to playing novelist Pearl S. Buck, Karen plays labor activist Mother Jones, Civil War soldier and spy Emma Edmunds, Wild West outlaw Belle Starr, chef Julia Child, and beloved children’s author Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Her work has been honored in many ways including with the Tamarack Fellowship for music and video, the Robert C. Byrd Community Service Award from the Corridor L Tourism Commission, in 2004 she was also honored by The West Virginia Storytelling Guild with their Robert McWhorter Achievement Award.

The Women’s Lyceum will continue on October 15 with author Kathy Manley. Manley will read from her memoir, Don’t Tell Them You’re Cold, a story of overcoming poverty. The Lyceum will conclude on October 28 with storyteller Ilene Evans as Memphis Tennessee Garrison, a teacher from the West Virginia coal fields who rose to national prominence with the NAACP. Both of these events begin at 7 p.m. and are free and open to the public.

For additional information about the Women’s Lyceum, call the Folklife Center at 304-367-4403.

Share this story:

Local Businesses

RECENT Stories

Wesleyan finishes seventh in MEC Commissioners Cup standings

West Virginia Wesleyan finished seventh in the 2024-25 Mountain East Conference Commissioner’s Cup standings, while the University of Charleston captured its eighth consecutive and tenth overall title for all-around athletic excellence.
Summer basketball

Summer basketball league wraps up week one

The Upshur County Summer Basketball League completed its first week at West Virginia Wesleyan College, featuring high-scoring performances from Dalton Hamrick, Cooper Sanders, Derek Sevier, Manadji Tokindang, and Austin Upton.
BUHS Girls Soccer Feature Image

Kelley calls soccer camp a success, has sights on leading B-U girls program to new heights

Logan Kelley, newly named head coach of the Buckhannon-Upshur Lady Buc soccer team, helped oversee a successful youth camp and aims to bring stability and new achievements to the girls program.

Wesleyan professor collecting first-hand accounts, photos to commemorate 1985 flood

A West Virginia Wesleyan College professor and librarian are collecting first-hand stories and photos from the 1985 flood to create an anniversary exhibit preserving campus and community memories of the disaster.

Pizza shop worker arrested for using customer credit card info to gamble online

A pizza shop employee was arrested after allegedly taking a customer’s credit card information from a food order and using it to make unauthorized bets totaling $300 on an online gambling site.

WVU Medicine St. Joseph’s Hospital and Rotary Club of Buckhannon-Upshur to hold blood drive on August 15

WVU Medicine St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Rotary Club of Buckhannon-Upshur will host a blood and food drive on August 15 at the Event Center at Brushy Fork, offering incentives for blood donors.

Buckhannon Water Board Agenda: July 10, 2025

The City of Buckhannon Water Board’s agenda for its July 10, 2025, meeting has been released by My Buckhannon.

Upshur County Commission Agenda: July 10, 2025

Here is the agenda for the Upshur County Commission meeting scheduled for July 10, 2025.

Really Really Free Market and Community Potluck scheduled for Sunday, July 13

A community Really Really Free Market and potluck will be held Sunday, July 13, from 1–3 pm at Walnut and Chestnut streets, featuring free goods, services, food and opportunities to connect and volunteer.