Kaye Gibbons, best-selling author, speaks at College Nov. 13

November 2, 2007
Kristin Brewer, Communications Assistant
865.981.8085; kristin.brewer@maryvillecollege.edu

Kaye GibbonsThe 20th-annual Appalachian Lecture Series hosted by Maryville College concludes Nov. 13 with a presentation by award-winning and best-selling author Kaye Gibbons.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Gibbons is expected to take the stage in the newly remodeled Alumni Gym at 7 p.m. She will be on hand after the lecture to sell and sign copies of her books.

A graduate of North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, Gibbons wrote her first novel, Ellen Foster, which drew from some of her childhood experiences.

Praised by such Southern literary giants as Eudora Welty and Walker Percy,

Ellen Foster won a first fiction award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and a special citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation. It is now considered a classic by many and in some classrooms, taught alongside Huckleberry Finn and Catcher in the Rye.

From 1987 until 2006, Gibbons has written numerous award-winning novels, including A Virtuous Woman, A Cure for Dreams, Sights Unseen and Divining Women.

In 1998, Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman were chosen together as Oprah Book Club selections and led The New York Times bestseller list for several weeks.

In 2006, she released the sequel to Ellen Foster, entitled The Life All Around Me, and is currently working on journalistic pieces, a biography, as well as reading and lecturing to sold-out audiences from New York City to Seattle.

“An act of sustained brilliance” is what one journalist wrote in 2001 after hearing Gibbons speak at the Pompidou Center in Paris.

“We’re very excited about getting a writer of Kaye Gibbons’ stature to visit Maryville College,” said Kim Trevathan, instructor of writing and communication and co-organizer of the Appalachian Lecture Series. “Reading her fiction, you can’t help but inhabit the world of her characters, to care deeply about what happens to them. She’s a master of creating individual voices through her narrators, which makes me very interested in hearing her read aloud from her work.”

2007 marks the 20th year of the Appalachian Lecture Series, which was envisioned as a vehicle for recognizing the unique and valuable contributions of Southern Appalachian culture. For two decades, the Series has invited artists, scholars, musicians, writers and historians to the College campus each fall to give presentations on the heritage, as well as the future, of the region.

The continuation of the Appalachian Lecture Series is made possible by generous support from Nancy Cain, Barbara Everett, Jack Barlow and Diane Humphreys-Barlow ’70.

For more information on the Appalachian Lecture Series, contact Dr. Susan Schneibel at 865.981.8251 or susan.schneibel@maryvillecollege.edu.

Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, Tenn., between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville, the state's third largest city. Founded in 1819, it is the 12th oldest institution of higher learning in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Known for its academic rigor and its focus on the liberal arts, Maryville is where students come to stretch their minds, stretch themselves and learn how to make a difference in the world. Total enrollment for the fall 2009 semester is 1,103.