WILSON, N.C. – Barton College will welcome novelist Pamela Duncan as the featured speaker for the annual Joyce T. Boone Southern Authors Series. The lecture will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 22, in The Sam and Marjorie Ragan Writing Center at 7:30 p.m. The program is open to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend.
A North Carolina native, Duncan was born in Asheville and grew up in Black Mountain, Swannanoa, and Shelby. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Arts degree in English/Creative Writing from North Carolina State University. Duncan lives in Cullowhee and teaches creative writing at Western Carolina University.
Duncan’s first novel, “Moon Women,” was a Southeastern Booksellers Association (now Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance) Award Finalist. Jill McCorkle, author of “Carolina Moon and July 7th,” said, “Pam Duncan has a perfectly tuned ear for the rhythms and ironies of speech and a vast wisdom when it comes to the twists and turns of the human heart.” “These talents shine in ‘Moon Women,’ a novel brimming with energy, compassion and humor.”
Her second novel, “Plant Life,” won the 2003 Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction. The Washington Post’s critique of “Plant Life” included, “Duncan has a fine ear for dialect, which finds expression in a series of striking set-pieces….Well crafted, with expert attention to the cadence of regional speech patterns, these short pieces ring with the authority of oral history….It is a novel with heart.”
Duncan’s third novel, “The Big Beautiful,” published in March 2007, was described by Lee Smith, author of “Fair and Tender Ladies,” as, “Jane Austen meets Mayberry: for once, a real romance, with a heroine worthy of it! Smart, sweet, and funny. This is one big, beautiful, life-affirming novel.”
Duncan is currently working on her fourth novel, “The Wilder Place.”
She is the recipient of the 2007 James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachian South, awarded by the Fellowship of Southern Writers.
The Joyce T. Boone Endowed Lectureship for Southern Authors was established in memory of the late Joyce Thornton Boone by her husband, Doug Boone. This endowed lectureship supports special programs featuring visiting Southern writers.
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 additional information about this program, please contact Dr. Jim Clark, chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages and the Elizabeth H. Jordan Endowed Chair for Southern Literature, at 252-399-6450 or email: jclark@barton.edu.
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Questions? Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.