The Department of English, Theatre, and Languages

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke

presents

"From The Cheer Leader to Final Vinyl Days:

The Art of Jill McCorkle"

A conference on the works of the award-winning author

Friday, March 30, Room 225, Dial Humanities Bldg.

Program

Welcome: Dr. Roger Brown, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Introduction: Dr. Joe Mandel, Conference Director

Session 1: 9:00-10:15 (Chair: Dr. Nancy Barrineau, Dept. of ETL)

1. Karen W. Martin, Lambuth University, "The Virgin Mary, Gidget, and the Total Woman: Constructing the Self in The Cheer Leader"

2.. Harriette C. Buchanan, Appalachian State University, "Chains of Love: Mother-Daughter Relationships in Jill McCorkle's Fiction"

3. Barbara Bennett, Wake Forest University, "Thelma and Louise in Wonderland: McCorkle's Feminist Revision of Fairytales"

4. Katherine James, Barton College, "Changing Racial Attitudes in the Fiction of Jill McCorkle"

Session 2: 10:30-11:45 (Chair: Dr. Jesse Peters, Dept. of ETL)

1. Brian C. Ferguson-Avery, Georgia Southwestern University, "'I Know You Like a Book': The Use of Knowledge and Gender in Jill McCorkle's Short Stories"

2. Shannon Ravenel, Algonquin Books, "Editing Jill McCorkle's Writing"

3. Steven Byrd, UNC Pembroke, "Jill McCorkle's Small Hometown"

4. Nancy Olson, Quail Ridge Books, "A Brief History of Jill McCorkle's Readings at Quail Ridge"

Luncheon, 12:00-1:30-Chancellor's Dining Room - Shelby and Linda Stephenson will entertain with songs from Jill McCorkle's fiction

Session 3: 2:00-3:30 (Chair: Dr. Susan Cannata, Dept. of ETL)

1. Bethany Perkins, UNC Greensboro, "Journey to Secular Spiritualism: Religious Ideology in Jill McCorkle's Final Vinyl Days"

2. Diane B. Jones, NC State University, "Final Vinyl Days: Story Cycles, Life Cycles"

3 Sarah Whalen, "A Performance of Jill McCorkle's short story Crash Diet"

4. Paul Ferguson, UNC Chapel Hill, "Adapting McCorkle's Fiction to the Stage"

Response: Jill McCorkle

About the Author: Jill McCorkle*

Jill McCorkle, a native of Lumberton, North Carolina, is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1980 and from the Hollins College Master Program in Writing in 1981. She has written five novels: The Cheer Leader, July 7^th, Tending to Virginia, Ferris Beach, and Carolina Moon, and two collections of short stories, Crash Diet and Final Vinyl Days.

McCorkle made literary history when her first two novels were published simultaneously by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. Her fiction has been four times selected by the New York Times Book Review for its Notable Books of the Year list. In 1993 the author received the New England Booksellers' Association award for her body of work in fiction, and in 1996, she was included in Granta magazine's celebration of Best Young American Novelists. In 1999, she received the North Carolina Award for Literature from Governor James Hunt.

Jill McCorkle lives in the Boston area with her husband and her two young children.

*Information from Algonquin Books press releases.