Widely-acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates will present a reading and share some remarks on the topic of “inspiration” on Monday, July 16, at 6 p.m. in the Gertrude C. Ford Academic Complex Recital Hall at Millsaps College in Jackson. The Millsaps event will launch the 2018 McMullan Young Writers Workshop (MYWW). A book signing coordinated by Lemuria Books will follow the free event.
Oates also discussed her writing life and read from Blonde, her historical novel about Marilyn Monroe’s inner life, at a book singing on Saturday, July 14, at Pass Christian Books in Pass Christian, her first visit to Mississippi. Scenes from the book signing and a gathering which followed, hosted by Welty Foundation National Advisory Board member Margaret McMullan and her husband, Patrick O’Connor, are shown here.
Oates has received the National Book Award, the PEN/Malamud Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Short Story, and France’s Prix Femina, among many other recognitions. She received the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama in 2010 for her contributions to American letters. She has published more than 50 novels as well as short stories, poetry, and non-fiction.
The McMullan Young Writers Workshop, to be held on campus at Millsaps July 16-20, will host 55 aspiring young writers, giving them an opportunity to work with published authors as instructors and to study literature with college professors. Participants are rising 10th graders through rising college freshmen. Several have been winners in the Scholastic Writing Awards program administered by the Eudora Welty House and Garden in coordination with the Eudora Welty Foundation. Ms. Oates herself was a Scholastic Writing Award-winner.
The workshop is made possible through the generous support of the McMullan Family Foundation, in partnership with the Welty Foundation and Millsaps. Please download and share this flier about the reading with others.