Featured image for post: Joyce T. Boone Southern Authors Series Welcomes New York Times’ Best Selling Author Therese Ann Fowler on October 22

Joyce T. Boone Southern Authors Series Welcomes New York Times’ Best Selling Author Therese Ann Fowler on October 22

WILSON, N.C. — October 7, 2019 — Barton College will welcome Therese Ann Fowler as the featured author for this year’s Joyce T. Boone Southern Authors Series Lecture. The program will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. in Hardy Alumni Hall on campus. This event is open to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend.

Fowler is the “New York Times” bestselling author of “A Well-Behaved Woman” (2018), a Southern Book Prize for Fiction finalist. This biographical novel tells the story of Alva Smith Vanderbilt, who defied conventions after marrying into one of America’s Gilded Age dynasties. Her novel “Z” (2013) gives a fictional account of the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald and her marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald. Seeing beyond the misrepresentations and myths of these legendary women, Fowler explores the way that powerful females can be devalued yet simultaneously rewarded.

“Z” has been adapted as an original television series for Amazon Studios, starring Christina Ricci as Zelda Fitzgerald. A Well-Behaved Woman is in development with Sony Pictures Television. “A Good Neighborhood,” forthcoming in early 2020, presents a timely look at contemporary America, with issues of racism, conservative religion, and justice at center stage.

Fowler earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology/Cultural Anthropology and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing, both from North Carolina State University. A member of Phi Beta Kappa and PEN America, she lives in Raleigh with her husband, author John Kessel.

Joyce T. Boone graduated from Atlantic Christian College with degrees in business administration (1978) and nursing (1988). An enthusiastic advocate for students and alumni of Barton College, Boone believed in the mission of the small, private, liberal arts college. She served on both the Barton College Board of Trustees and the Barton Alumni Council. Boone was president-elect of the Barton College Alumni Council when she passed away in October 2004.

For more information about this event, contact Dr. Rebecca Godwin, Elizabeth H. Jordan Chair for Southern Literature, at 252-399-6364 or rlgodwin@barton.edu.

END