KNOXVILLE — Two University of Tennessee professors will participate in the 2003 Arts and Education Council on Southern Literature Conference, April 24-26, in Chattanooga.
Dr. Marilyn Kallet, professor of English and director of UT’s creative writing program is one of five scheduled guest speakers for the event.
Kallet is author of eight books, including “Sleeping With One Eye Open: Women Writers and the Art of Survival” and “How To Get Heat Without Fire.” She was awarded UT-s 2001 Chancellor-s Research and Creative Achievement award for her books and poetry about the Holocaust.
“It’s going to be a great conference,” Kallet said. “Being on a panel with (noted Southern author) Kaye Gibbons will be a thrill. Her book ‘On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon’ is one of the great novels of all time. Our panel, Southern Women, will be introduced by George Garrett, an expert on the topic.”
UT English Professor Allen Wier will be inducted into the prestigious Fellowship of Southern Writers, joining acclaimed Southern authors such as Eudora Welty, Ernest Gains and Walker Percy.
Wier, who holds UT-s Hodges Chair for Distinguished Teaching, is author of several novels, including “A Place For Outlaws,” “Departing As Air” and “Blanco.” He is a recipient of Guggenheim Fellowships in fiction and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Wier said induction into the Fellowship of Southern Writers is a career milestone.
“To be elected by a group of writers as fine as the Fellowship of Southern Writers — many of whom are writers whose level of achievement I have long aspired to — means a great deal to me,” Wier said.
Admission starts at $45. Friday night’s awards ceremony is free and open to the public. For more information or to register, call the council at 1-800-267-4232 or visit www.artsedcouncil.org.