Dunagan A Clarke County native who grew up in Grove Hill will be back home to read from his first novel at a book signing tonight (Thursday).

Ted Dunagan will read from and talk about his book, "A Yellow Watermelon," Thursday, Oct. 2 at the new Senior Citizen Center beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The Grove Hill Arts Council is hosting the event and the book is its "community read" recommendation for the year.

The book, recently republished by New South Books, for a teen audience, tells the story of a black and white boy growing up together in rural south Alabama—Clarke County, actually— in 1948.

The book may be viewed as somewhat autobiographical since Dunagan was born in 1943.

The story explores the poverty and racial segregation of the time through the youngsters.

Dunagan grew up in the Center Point community near Coffeeville and Grove Hill and is a graduate of Clarke County High School. He attended Georgia State University, and served for three years in the Army as a member of the 101st Airborne Division and Special Forces Training Group.

Dunagan is now retired after a career in the cosmetics and fragrance industry.

He writes features and columns for the weekly newspaper, The Monticello News in Monticello, Georgia, where he lives with his wife.

Dunagan was in Thomasville Tuesday for a book signing and reading at the Thomasville Civic Center.