BOOKS AND WRITING: Dorothy Allison at WCU Thursday
CULLOWHEE–Dorothy Allison, a major literary voice from the South, talks about her work in an audience participation program, 7:30 p.m., November 19, in the UC Theatre at Western Carolina University. Allison’s novel, “Bastard out of Carolina” is the focus of the show, which will be simulcast with interaction on http://www.Citizen-Times.com. The event is free and open to the public.
The program, called a WNC Read-for-All, begins with a twenty-minute author feature and continues with forty minutes of discussion, emceed by Rob Neufeld. (Several WCU students have read Allison’s book in preparation for the event). See the website, “The Read on WNC” for more details and a Reader’s Guide. Representatives from REACH and The Jackson County Community Table will attend the event, and books will be available for signing courtesy of City Lights Books. The event is funded by the Parris Distinguished Professorship in Appalachian Cultural Studies.
The first member of her family to graduate from high school, Allison attended Florida Presbyterian college on a National Merit Scholarship and studied anthropology at the New School for Social Research.
Bastard out of Carolina contains many remarkable features: the story of a girl who forges a positive identity in the teeth of her stepfather’s abuse; the depiction of a poor, Southern extended family; and great storytelling. Allison received mainstream recognition with this novel, a finalist for the 1992 National Book Award. The novel won the Ferro Grumley prize and became a best seller and award- winning movie. It has been translated into more than a dozen languages.
The expanded edition of Allison’s short-story collection Trash (2002) included the prize winning short story, “Compassion,” selected for both Best American Short Stories 2003 and Best New Stories from the South 2003. Allison’s chapbook of poetry, The Women Who Hate Me, was published with Long Haul Press in 1983. A novel, She Who, is forthcoming.
Dorothy Allison was Emory University Center for Humanistic Inquiry’s Distinguished Visiting Professor, Spring, 2008. In 2006, she was writer in residence at Columbia College in Chicago. This fall, Allison is the McGee Professor and writer in residence at Davidson College in North Carolina.
Read Rob Neufield’s interview with Allison here.
Tags: Appalachia, Bastard out of Carolina, city lights bookstore, Cullowhee, Dorothy Allison, national book award, Western Carolina University
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