Acuff Chair of Excellence recipient Dorothy Allison to give April 7th author reading at Austin Peay

Clarksville, TN – Award-winning writer, poet and novelist Dorothy Allison, the current Roy Acuff Chair of Excellence recipient, will be on the campus of Austin Peay State University on Friday, April 7th for an evening reading of her work.

The event, which takes place at 8:00pm, will be held at the George and Sharon Mabry Concert Hall on the University campus and is free to the public.

Allison has won a number of literary awards, including two Lambda Literary Awards and the American Library Association Prize for Lesbian and Gay Writing for her 1988 short story collection, “Trash.”

She received mainstream recognition with her novel, “Bastard Out of Carolina,” a finalist for the 1992 National Book Award. “Bastard Out of Carolina” became a bestseller, and an Emmy Award-winning film.

Her 1995 book, “Two or Three Things I Know for Sure” was named the New York Times Book Review notable book of the year, while her 1998 book, “Cavedweller,” was also a national bestseller and has been adapted for the stage and film.

Awarded the 2007 Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction, Allison is a member of the board of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.

“(Dorothy) is one of the great contemporary American prose writers,” Dr. Amy Wright, Austin Peay associate professor, said. “I also appreciate that she arose from humble beginnings as the daughter of a waitress, rather than of a CEO. She’s a first-generation college student who made her way in the wider world toward awards for her best-selling writing.”

Established in 1985, the Roy Acuff Chair of Excellence brings regionally and nationally acclaimed artists to campus to work with students and the community in a dynamic atmosphere of unrestricted experimentation. Each Acuff Chair gives a public performance and visits the campus for about a week.

For more information on the reading, or this year’s Acuff Chair of Excellence, contact the APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts at 931.221.7876.