S191. Such Mean Stories: Women Writers Get Gritty

Room 202A, Washington Convention Center, Level Two
Saturday, February 11, 2017
12:00 pm to 1:15 pm

 

Violence, hungry children, booze, sex, drugs, hand-to-mouth living; the hardscrabble life has affected just as many women as white men. But the male writers get far more attention than the females. Who are the women writers of the rough south, grit lit, or blue collar world? Why are their stories marginalized, their graphic details criticized? The diverse group of women writers on this panel aren’t afraid to get dirty, write close to the bone, and tear down literary walls. Time to get mean.


Participants

Moderator:

Luanne Smith is codirector of creative writing at West Chester University near Philadelphia. She has taught every form of literary creative writing over the years, and she is a fiction writer who has published in various literary journals.

Jayne Anne Phillips, author of Quiet Dell, Lark and Termite, MotherKind, Shelter, Machine Dreams, Fast Lanes, and Black Tickets, is a National Book Award finalist and two-time NBCC finalist. University Professor of English at Rutgers University-Newark, she directs the RU-N MFA program.

Vicki Hendricks is the author of five noir novels, including Miami Purity and Cruel Poetry, the latter a finalist for an MWA Edgar Award in 2008, and her collection, Florida Gothic Stories. She has recently retired after thirty-five years teaching at Broward College to continue her writing career.

Jill McCorkle is the author of four short story collections and six novels including her most recent, Life After Life. Her stories have appeared in various periodicals as well as Best American Short Stories and The Norton Anthology. She teaches at at NC State and the Bennington Writing Program.

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