Mt. Pleasant CME Church will be welcoming popular author and speaker Phyllis Lawson May 18 for a book signing.

Lawson will be at the church at 6:30 p.m., and the community is invited to attend the event. Mount Pleasant is located at 423 Bethel St. NE in Hartselle.

Lawson will be speaking about her first book, “Quilt of Souls,” in which she shares stories of her family and particularly of the grandmother who raised her. She said during her childhood, her grandmother would quilt with clothing articles from deceased family members and share their story.

“She used the clothes and described to me the story and the life of the person. Each chapter of the book is pretty much dedicated to those stories of those individuals,” Lawson said.

Lawson first began writing her book while in the military as a way to remember the family stories she had heard growing up. “At first I wrote because I wanted to share those stories with the world before I forget. I wanted to put it in book form so people would know the stories and the grandmother that raised me,” Lawson said. “She was an awesome woman. She died at 104. The book really tells the story. It’s amazing.”

Despite the stories being about her family personally, Lawson said she has been able to connect with audiences all over the world. She said when she first began writing the book, she thought it would be the story of African Americans and the Great Migration North, but she has since found it to be a story of relationships with elders and grandparents raising their grandchildren.

“I got out on the roads and started doing 60 and 80 speaking engagements, and a lot of the times, 80-90 percent of my audience was people that didn’t look like me,” Lawson said. “People really gravitated to me because I talked about quilting … and they related to growing up in the country with their grandparents and the chickens and the cows and the outside toilets. People really got a kick out of that.

“It crossed all racial and socio-economic groups, and really it had nothing to do with race; it had to do with people’s relationship with their elders,” Lawson explained. “Particularly their grandparents. I enjoy telling (these stories), and wherever I go, they listen to them. They relate to them.”

Lawson said she will be sharing her grandmother’s story during the signing, and there will be copies available for purchase. Copies can also be ordered through Amazon.

“I welcome people to come out. They really would enjoy it,” she said. “It’s not only my story, but it’s their story as well.”