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Author Ellen Gilchrist to present
Thomas Wolfe Lecture at UNC Oct. 6

By DEE REID
College of Arts and Sciences

CHAPEL HILL – National Book Award-winning author Ellen Gilchrist will receive the fifth annual Thomas Wolfe Prize and deliver a lecture on Oct. 6 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Her presentation, free and open to the public by general admission, is set for 7:30 p.m. in Carroll Hall.

A prolific writer of short stories, novels and essays, Gilchrist did not begin writing fiction until age 40. Even so, she has published 13 short-story collections, six novels and a collection of essays that aired previously on National Public Radio. Her 23rd book, about her experiences teaching creative writing, is due next spring.

"Her body of work is consistently funny and urbane, but its greatest distinction is that in book after book, the author returns to her most provocative characters, so that their lives are ongoing and continue to evolve," said author Marianne Gingher, assistant professor of creative writing at UNC. "Her most endearing characters are women, and they are willful, idealistic, tricky, innovative, eccentric and resilient."

Gilchrist’s debut story collection, "In the Land of Dreamy Dreams," was published in 1981 to critical acclaim. Next came her first novel, "The Annunciation" (1983), and the following year her story collection "Victory Over Japan," which won the National Book Award for fiction.

Her most recent story collections are "I, Rhoda Manning, Go Hunting with My Daddy: And Other Stories" (2002), and "Ellen Gilchrist: Collected Stories" (2000).

"To say that Ellen Gilchrist can write is to say that Placido Domingo can sing," wrote Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley.

Born in Vicksburg, Miss., Gilchrist studied writing at Millsaps College in Jackson, with Eudora Welty, and at the University of Arkansas, where Gilchrist now teaches. She received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Vanderbilt University.

UNC's English department, its Morgan Writer-in-Residence Program and the international Thomas Wolfe Society sponsor the annual prize and lectureship, bringing a major writer or scholar to campus annually.

The award goes to writers of the highest quality who display energy, originality and dedication to their art and have made significant contributions to writing in the humanities. Previous Wolfe Lecturers were Tom Wolfe, Larry Brown, Elizabeth Spencer and Pat Conroy.

The award and lecture honor Carolina's most famous literary graduate (in 1920), who wrote the classic novel "Look Homeward, Angel."

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Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/visiting/gilchrist_ellen.jpg

Photo credit: Mary McCormick

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