New course brings notable writers to UNC

Creative writing students will study with notable authors during a new course offered this semester at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The writers also will give free public readings of their works.

Through the course, “Living Writers,” students pursuing a minor in creative writing are reading the works of contemporary writers Tobias Wolff, Cary Holladay, Stuart Dybek and Andrea Barrett. The writers will visit the class, lead discussions and answer questions.

It is the creative writing program’s first and only semester-length class arranged entirely around visiting writers and their works.

“It’s a great experience, especially for the students to have the opportunity to talk with the writers they are reading and ask about the art and craft of writing,” said Pam Durban, Doris Betts Distinguished Professor in the department of English and comparative literature, who is teaching the course. “It brings writing alive for them in a way that nothing else can.”

Wolff , the first writer to visit for the class, will give a free public reading at 5:30 p.m. Thursday ( Sept. 10 ) in Hyde Hall as part of the North Carolina Literary Festival. The other writers’ free public readings, all at 5:30 p.m., will be:

Sept. 29: Holladay, University Room, Hyde Hall;
Oct. 15: Dybek, Dialectic Hall, Old West; and
Nov. 5: Barrett, University Room, Hyde Hall.


Wolff’s books include the memoirs “This Boy’s Life” and “In Pharaoh’s Army: Memories of the Lost War,” the novels “The Barracks Thief” and “Old School” and four collections of short stories. He has won many awards, including the PEN/Faulkner Award, The Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Holladay is the author of five volumes of fiction: the novels “A Fight in the Doctor’s Office” and “Mercury” and the short story collections “The Quick-Change Artist,” “The Palace of Wasted Footsteps” and “The People Down South.” Her honors include an O. Henry Prize, the Paul Bowles Prize for Fiction and fellowships from both the National Endowment for the Arts ( NEA ) and the Tennessee Arts Commission.

Dybek is the author of three books of fiction, “I Sailed With Magellan,” “The Coast of Chicago” and “Childhood and Other Neighborhoods.” He also wrote two collections of poetry. He has won a MacArthur Prize, a PEN/Malamud Prize, a Whiting Writer’s Award, several O. Henry Prizes and an award from the Academy of Arts and Letters. He has received fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Barrett’s collections of short fiction won major awards – “Ship Fever” received a 1996 National Book Award, and “Servants of the Map” was a 2003 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She is the author of six novels, including her most recent, “The Air We Breathe.” A current MacArthur Fellow, she also has received NEA, Guggenheim and New York Public Library fellowships.

The “Living Writers” course is made possible by a gift from Sallie Shuping-Russell to the College of Arts and Sciences. Shuping-Russell graduated from Carolina in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in English and political science and serves on the UNC Board of Trustees. The gift honors her mother, Margaret R. Shuping, who graduated from UNC in 1944 with a degree in journalism.

College of Arts and Sciences contact: Kim Spurr, ( 919 ) 962-4093, spurrk@email.unc.edu