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    1. UNG
    2. Academics
    3. College of Arts & Letters
    4. English

    Visiting Authors

    The University of North Georgia Visiting Authors Program hosts contemporary writers to discuss their work with our students and community, offering illuminating perspectives on human experience—revealed through their poetry, fiction, essays, and memoirs—as well as insights about the writing and publishing processes.

    Spring 2019

    Nayomi Munaweera is the award-winning author of Island of a Thousand Mirrors and What Lies Between Us. Her work has been widely anthologized. Island of a Thousand Mirrors, a book about the Sri Lankan civil war, was long-listed for the Man Asia Literary Prize and the Dublin IMPAC Prize. It won the Commonwealth Regional Prize for the Asian Region. What Lies Between Us explores the ongoing legacies of intergenerational trauma and secrecy. It won the Sri Lankan National Book Award. Munaweera currently teaches at Mills College and at the Ashland University low-residency MFA Program.

    • Past Events
      • Spring 2018

        Acclaimed author of the novels Playing for the Devil's Fire, Sofrito, and short fiction in national literary journals, Phillippe Diederich, will give a talk titled, "From Headlines to Fiction: How Current Events Influence Literature."

        Focusing on his novel Playing for the Devil’s Fire (an acclaimed young adult novel set in Mexico), Diederich will discuss the power of fiction and how stories that address social issues can tug at our emotions and lead us to better understand ourselves and others.

      • Fall 2017
        Stoker on Stoker poster

        Dacre Stoker, great grand-nephew of Bram Stoker, co-author of Dracula the Un-Dead (a sequel to Dracula) and co-editor of The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: The Dublin Years, will give a presentation - "Stoker on Stoker."

        Along with the never-before-published and seldom-seen historic images, Stoker provides a glimpse behind the scenes of Bram Stoker and Dracula.

      • Spring 2015
        Tony Grooms

        Tony Grooms, Poet & Novelist

        Focus Works: Bombingham (2001), Trouble No More (2006), Ice Poems (1988)

        Support/Affiliation: Presented as part of the Southern Literary Festival, co-sponsored with the Georgia Humanities Council

      • December 2014
        Grand Central Review

        Hosted the launch of Grand Central Review, an online space for fiction, poetry, reviews, columns, and art. The website's editors—Richard Monaco, Scott Thompson, and Leverett Butts—led the on-site and remote roundtable conversation. A book signing followed the roundtable discussion.

        Support/Affiliation: UNG College of Arts & Letters

      • Fall 2014
        Joe Oestreich

        Joe Oestreich, Memoirist and Non-fiction Writer

        Focus Work: Hitless Wonder: A Life in Minor League Rock and Roll (2011)

      • Spring 2014
        Judson Mitcham

        Judson Mitcham, Poet Laureate of Georgia, Novelist

        Focus Work: A Little Salvation: Poems Old and New (2007)

        Other Works: Somewhere in Ecclesiastes (1991), The Sweet Everlasting (1996), Sabbath Creek (2004)

        More Information: Georgia Encyclopedia entry

      • Fall 2013
        Christal Presley

        Christal Presley, Memoirist

        Focus Work: Thirty Days with My Father: Finding Peace from Wartime PTSD (2012)

      • Spring 2013
        Quentin Falk

        Quentin Falk, Film Critic, and Non-fiction Writer

        Focus Work: The Musical Milkman Murder (2012)

      • Fall 2012
        Melissa Fay Greene

        Melissa Fay Greene, Non-fiction Writer and Essayist

        Focus Work: No Biking in the House without a Helmet (2011)

        Other Works: There Is No Me without You: One Woman's Odyssey to Rescue Her Nation's Children (2006), Last Man Out (2003), The Temple Bombing (1996), Praying for Sheetrock (1991)

      • Spring 2012
        Frank Walker

        Photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths

        Frank X Walker, Poet

        Focus Works: Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate this Ride (2010), Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York (2003), Black Box: Poems (2005)

        Support/Affiliation: Supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

      • Fall 2011
        Sonya Huber

        Sonya Huber, Memoirist

        Focus Work: Opa Nobody (2008)

        Support/Affiliation: With grant funding from the Georgia Humanities Council, which is supported through funds appropriated by the Georgia General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Humanities

      • Fall 2010

        Silas House, Novelist and Non-fiction writer

        Focus Works: Eli the Good (2009), Something's Rising (2009), Clay's Quilt (2001)

        Support/Affiliation: In partnership with the Georgia Appalachian Studies Center

        Scott Miller, Singer and Songwriter
      • Spring 2010
        Laila Lalami

        Laila Lalami, Novelist

        Focus Work: Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (2005)

        Support/Affiliation: Supported by the Hoag Lecture Series

      • Fall 2008

        Anne Dismukes Amerson, Non-fiction Writer

        Focus Work: Dahlonega's Gold (2008)

      • Fall 2007
        Jackie Cooper

        Jackie K Cooper, Fiction Writer

        Focus Work: The Bookbinder (2006)

      • Spring 2007
        Diane Gabaldon

        Diane Gabaldon, Novelist

        Focus Work: Outlander (1992)

        Support/Affiliation: In conjunction with the Dahlonega Literary Festival

      • Fall 2006
        Brian Corrigan

        Brian Corrigan, Novelist

        Focus Work: The Poet of Loch Ness (2005)

      • Spring 2006

        Margaret Edson, Playwright

        Focus Work: Wit (1999)

      • Fall 2005
        Terry Kay

        Terry Kay, Novelist

        Focus Works: The Valley of Light (2003), To Dance with the White Dog (1991)

      • Fall 2004
        Linda Niemann

        Linda G Niemann, Memoirist

        Focus Works: Railroad Voices (1998), Boomer: A Railroad Journey (1992)

      • Spring 2004

        Natasha Trethewey, Poet

        Focus Works: Belocq's Ophelia (2002), Domestic Work (2000)

      • Fall 2003

        John Stone, Poet

        Poems by Physician-Poet John Stone

        Lorraine Lopez

        Lorraine Lopez, Fiction Writer

        Focus Work: Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories (2002)

      • Spring 2003

        Janisse Ray, Creative Non-fiction Writer

        Focus Work: Ecology of a Cracker Childhood (2000)

      • Fall 2002
        Judith Ortiz Cofer

        Judith Ortiz Cofer, Poet, Essayist, and Fiction Writer

        Focus Works: Woman in Front of the Sun (2000), The Latin Deli: Telling the Lives of Barrio Women (1993), Silent Dancing (1991)

      • Spring 2002
        Lynn Hinton

        Lynn Hinton, Novelist

        Focus Work: Friendship Cake (2001)

      • Fall 2001
        Amy Blackmarr

        Amy Blackmarr, Memoirist

        Focus Works: Above the Fall Line (2003), Going to Ground (1997)

      • Spring 2001
        Michael Bishop

        Photo by Jeri Bishop

        Michael Bishop, Poet, Novelist, and Short Fiction Writer

        Focus Work: Time Pieces (1998)

      • Fall 2000
        Lee Abbott

        Lee Abbott, Novelist

        Focus Work: Living after Midnight (1991)

      • Spring 2000

        Le Ly Hayslip, Novelist

        Focus Work: When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (1989)

      • Spring 1999

        Fred Chappell, Author and Poet

        Focus Works: More Shapes Than One (1992), I Am One of You Forever (1987)

        Jill McCorkle

        Jill McCorkle, Novelist

        Focus Work: Final Vinyl Days and Other Stories (1998)

      • Spring 1998

        Bette Bao Lord, Memoirist

        Focus Works: In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (1984), Spring Moon (1982)

      • Spring 1997

        N. Scott Momaday, Poet and Novelist

        Focus Work: The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969)

      • Spring 1996
        Ernest Gaines

        Photo by Joseph Sanford

        Ernest Gaines

        Focus Works: A Lesson Before Dying (1993), A Gathering of Old Men (1983), The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971)

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