The School of Letters and Tower Bank present author Jill McCorkle on Thursday, June 20, 2024, at the Sewanee Inn. Link to RSVP to come.
In partnership with Tower Community Bank, the School of Letters presents a reading and conversation with author Jill McCorkle on Thursday, June 20, at 5:30 p.m. at the Sewanee Inn on University Avenue. Event parking will be available in the Sewanee Inn lot. Overflow parking may be found across the street in the Hall Street lot. A reception will follow, and the University Bookstore will have the author’s books for sale during the reception.
Jill McCorkle has the distinction of having published her first two novels on the same day in 1984. Of these novels, The New York Times Book Review said: “One suspects the author of The Cheer Leader is a born novelist. With July 7th, she is also a full grown one.” Since then she has published five other novels—most recently published is Hieroglyphics (2020, Algonquin Books)—and five collections of short stories (Old Crimes, 2024). Five of her books have been named New York Times notable books and four of her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories. An essay, “Cuss Time,” originally published in The American Scholar, was selected for Best American Essays. McCorkle has received the New England Booksellers Award, the John Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature, the North Carolina Award for Literature, and the Thomas Wolfe Prize; she was recently inducted into the NC Literary Hall of Fame. McCorkle has taught at Harvard, Brandeis University, NC State University, and the Bennington Writing Seminars.
Following a reading, McCorkle will be in conversation with Barry Allen, president and CEO of Tower Community Bank. The bank’s mission includes serving and supporting the South Cumberland community. Allen is the creator of The Impact Code, a podcast focusing on people who have made an impact on the world around them and the journey they undertook to find their path.
The School of Letters offers an MFA in creative writing under the directorship of Justin Taylor. Please visit the School’s website, letters.sewanee.edu, for more information on the program.
