NAMES IN THE NEWS : Haley Writes on Appalachia Past

“Roots” author Alex Haley says his love for his grandparents has inspired him to write a novel set in Appalachia.

“I want to dispel the image people have about this part of the world,” Haley said in a talk to a community club.

Haley, whose “Roots” traced his family back to Africa, spent much of his youth with his grandparents in the Tennessee town of Henning.

Grandparents tell grandchildren things they won’t tell their own children, said Haley, who now lives in Norris. Stories he heard from his grandparents made him think of an Appalachian-oriented story about the relationship between a grandfather and his grandson.

Haley said he “writes with a camera in my head” and sees the story becoming another TV miniseries.