The Visiting Writers' Series

The Visiting Writers Series has been an integral part of the cultural life of North Carolina Wesleyan College since the 1960s. Each year, the College invites up to three to four writers to read from their work and meet with students. Recently, the Series has paid particular attention to writers from Eastern North Carolina or of the Black Mountain School. The Series is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment of the Arts. Upcoming readings are posted in the College Events Calendar. For more information, contact Dr. James Bowers.

Fall 2007 

Quinn Dalton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6:30 p.m., Tuesday, November 13    

Powers Recital Hall

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

Quinn Dalton was born in South Carolina, attended Kent State, and then received an MFA at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  She is the author of a novel, High Strung (2003), and two story collections, Bulletproof Girl (2005), and Stories from the Afterlife (2007).    Her stories have appeared in such literary magazines as Glimmer Train, StoryQuarterly, The Baltimore Review, and The Kenyon Review.  She was awarded the Pearl 2002 Fiction Prize for her story “Back on Earth,” and received a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship in 2002-2003.  For more information, please visit her website: www.quinndalton.com.  

 

Fall 2006

 

Allan Gurganus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 21    

Dunn Center Lobby.

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

 

Allan Gurganus is the author of the novels Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, a New York Times Bestseller, and Plays Well with Others, as well as the collections The Practical Heart and White People, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a Pen/Faulkner finalist.  His short fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, and the Paris Review, and has been anthologized in The O. Henry Prize Stories, The Best American Short Stories, and New Stories from the South.

Kaye Gibbons

 

7:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 7    

Dunn Center Lobby.

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

Kaye Gibbons has published eight novels, including two Oprah Book Club selections: Ellen Foster (1986) and A Virtuous Woman (1989).  Her most recent work is a sequel to her first novel, The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster.  Gibbons has received numerous honors, including the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, the Louis D. Rubin Award, and a special citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation.     

 

Spring 2006 

 

Quinn Dalton

 

 

 

6:30 p.m., Thursday, February 16    

Powers Recital Hall.

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

 

Quinn Dalton was born in South Carolina, attended Kent State, and then received an MFA at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  She is the author of a novel, High Strung (2003), and a story collection, Bulletproof Girl (2005).  Her stories have appeared in such literary magazines as Glimmer Train, StoryQuarterly, The Baltimore Review, and The Kenyon Review.  She was awarded the Pearl 2002 Fiction Prize for her story “Back on Earth,” and received a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship in 2002-2003.  For more information, please visit her website: www.quinndalton.com. 

Stuart Dybek

 

6:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 21    

Powers Recital Hall.

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

Stuart Dybek was born in Chicago and is the author three prize-winning fiction collections: Childhood and Other Neighborhoods (1980), The Coast of Chicago (1990), and I Sailed with Magellan (2003), as well as two books of poetry: Brass Knuckles (1999) and Streets in Their Own Ink (2004).  His work has appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, and The Paris Review, among other publications, and has been honored in both The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Poetry.  He has received numerous awards, including a PEN/Bernard Malamud Prize, a Whiting Writer’s Award, multiple O. Henry Awards, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.  He currently teaches at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

 

Spring 2005

 

 

John McNally

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6:30 p.m., Tuesday, February 1    

Powers Recital Hall.

 

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

John McNally is author of two works of fiction: The Book of Ralph (2004) and Troublemakers (2000), a Book Sense 76 pick.  He has also edited four anthologies on subjects ranging from college life to baseball.  His short fiction has appeared in dozens of magazines, including Virginia Quarterly Review, Punk Planet, New England Review, and North American Review.  His book reviews have appeared such places as the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and The Progressive.  He is the recipient of the numerous fellowships, including the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project (Paramount Pictures), Jenny McKean Moore ( George Washington University ), Carl Djerassi ( University of Wisconsin ), and James Michener (Iowa Writers' Workshop).  A native of Chicago, John holds degrees from the University of Nebraska (Ph.D.), the Iowa Writers' Workshop (M.F.A.), and Southern Illinois University (B.A.).  At present, he divides his time between Los Angeles, where he works on screenplays, and North Carolina , where he teaches fiction writing at Wake Forest University.  His website is www.bookofralph.com.   

 

Fall 2004 

 

Brady Udall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6:30 p.m., Tuesday, November 9    

Powers Recital Hall.

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

 

Brady Udall is the author of Letting Loose the Hounds (1997) and The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint (2001).  Born and raised in the Indian Country of northeastern Arizona, Udall is a graduate of Brigham Young University  and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop.  He is the recipient of a James Michener Fellow and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.  He has also received a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers’ Award in 1997, and won the Playboy Fiction contest.  His stories have been published in GQ, Story, and The Paris Review.  For more information see his website: http://www.edgarmint.com 

 

Spring 2004 

 

Justin Cronin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 16    

Powers Recital Hall.

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

 

His acclaimed debut novel Mary and O'Neil (2001) won three major prizes: the 2002 Hemingway Foundation/Pen Award for best fictional debut, the Stephen Crane Prize from the Book of the Month Club, and a Whiting Writers' Award.  A Short History of the Long Ball (1990), won the National Novella Award.  A graduate of Harvard University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he currently is an associate professor of English at Rice University.  His work has appeared in many literary journals, including Epoch, Greensboro Review, Crescent Review and The Philadelphia Magazine.  His latest novel, The Summer Guest, is due out in June.   

Bill Morgan

 

 

 

7:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 6    

Carlton Board Room.

   

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

Professor Emeritus of English, Illinois State University, Bill Morgan has published several books on Thomas Hardy and Victorian literature. He is the author of  a poetry chapbook, Trackings, and is currently at work on a collection of poems, entitled Sky with Six Geese.

 

Fall 2003 

 

Julianna Baggott 

 

 

 

 

7:00 p.m., Thursday, October 2    

Carlton Board Room.

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

Julianna Baggott received her MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1991. The recipient of fellowships from the Delaware Division of Arts, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Ragdale Foundation, and Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, she has placed poems and short stories in dozens of literary journals including the acclaimed anthology Best American Poetry 2000. She has also read her work on Boston's WBUR/NPR's "Here and Now" and NPR's "Talk of the Nation.

Her novel, Girl Talk, was published in February 2001. Her collection of poems, This Country of Mothers, followed in April 2001 published by Southern Illinois University Press. Her second novel, The Miss America Family, was published by Pocket Books in April 2002. Baggott's third novel, The Madam -- which is based on the life of her grandmother who was raised in a house of prostitution in the twenties and thirties -- is due out in September 2003 from Atria Books, a division of Simon and Schuster. See Julianna Baggott's website: http://www.juliannabaggott.com

Wendy  Brenner 

 

 

 

 

7:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 21    

Powers Recital Hall.

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

Wendy Brenner is the author of two story collections, Large Animals in Everyday Life (1996), the winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award, and Phone Calls From the Dead (2001). Her stories have appeared in the Oxford American, Mississippi Review, Five Points, and Story, and have been featured in Best New Stories from the South. She was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and has won the Henfield Transatlantic Review Award and the Associated Writing Programs Intro Award. She is a contributing writer for the Oxford American and a professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. See Wendy Brenner's website: http://www.uncwil.edu/writers/Faculty/Brenner/brenner.htm

Spring 2003 

Daniel

Wallace 

 

7:00 p.m., Monday, March 3    

Carlton Board Room.

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

Daniel Wallace is the author of three critically acclaimed novels (Big Fish, Ray in Reverse, and The Watermelon King). Big Fish has been translated into German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese, and is being made into a movie directed by Steven Spielberg.  Wallace's fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, Glimmer Train, Story, Prairie Schooner, and The Massachusetts Review.  He lives in Chapel Hill and is also an illustrator whose work has appeared on T-shirts, refrigerator magnets, and greeting cards across the country.

Haven

Kimmel 

 

7:00 p.m., Monday, April 1    

Carlton Board Room.

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

Haven Kimmel is the author of the New York Times bestseller and Today’s Bookclub selection, A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiania. Her most recent novel is The Solace of Leaving Early. She studied English and creative writing at Ball State University and North Carolina State University, and also attended seminary at the Earlham School of Religion. For more information: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=1400033349#bio

Fall 2002 

Charles

Baxter 

 

7:00 p.m., Friday, November 22    

Carlton Board Room.

 

Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow. 

Charles Baxter is the author of four short story collections (Harmony of the World, Through the Safety Net, A Relative Stranger, Believers), three novels (Shadow Play, First Light, The Feast of Love), two collections of poetry, and a book of essays on fiction, Burning Down the House. Harmony of the World (1984) won the Associated Writing Program's Award for Short Fiction, and The Feast of Love (2000), his latest novel, was a National Book Award Finalist.  Baxter's short fiction has been widely anthologized and is among the most honored in contemporary literature, having won several Best American Short Story Awards, Pushcart Prizes, and O. Henry Awards. He has also received fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund, and an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Since 1989 he has taught at the University of Michigan. See Charles Baxter's website: http://www.charlesbaxter.com/

 

Spring 2002 

  • Michael Malone 7:00 p.m., April 22 at Carlton Board Room. Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow at the home of the President.

 

Fall 2001 

  • Tim McLaurin 7:00 p.m., Sept. 26 at Powers Recital Hall. Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow.

  • William Hoffman 7:00 p.m., Nov. 6 at Carlton Board Room. Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow.

  • Fielding Dawson 7:00 p.m., Nov. 29 at Carlton Board Room. Admission: Free. Book signing and reception to follow.

 

Past visitors to the campus include:

  • Derek Walcott, winner of the Nobel Prize;

  • Robert Creeley, acknowledged as one of the major voices in contemporary American poetry;

  • Jonathan Williams and Fielding Dawson, important writers from the Black Mountain tradition;

  • Reynolds Price and Doris Betts, writers from the American South whose works, spanning decades, are considered seminal to contemporary Southern letters;

  • Kaye Gibbons, Philip Gerard, and Allan Gurganus, new award-winning Southern writers.

What is more, appearances by Louise Anderson, Hermine Pinson, and Jim Barnes, among others, accentuate the College's commitment to writers of color and the many, diverse cultures of eastern North Carolina in particular and the United States in general.

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