Dorothy Allison, a major literary voice from the South, talks about her workin an audience participation program, 7:30 p.m., November 19, in the UCTheatre at Western Carolina University. Allison's novel, Bastard out ofCarolina is the focus of the show, which will be simulcast with interaction onhttp://www.Citizen-Times.com. The event is free and open to the public.The program, called a WNC Read-for-All, begins with atwenty-minute author feature and continueswith forty minutes of discussion, emceed by Rob Neufeld. (Several WCU studentshave read Allison's book in preparation for the event). See the website, "TheRead on WNC"<http://thereadonwnc.ning.com/> for more details and a Reader'sGuide. Representatives from REACH and The Jackson County Community Table willattend the event, and books will be available for signing courtesy of CityLights Books. The event is funded by the Parris Distinguished Professorship inAppalachian Cultural Studies.The first member of her family to graduate from high school, Allison attendedFlorida Presbyterian college on a National Merit Scholarship and studiedanthropology at the New School for Social Research.Bastard out of Carolina contains many remarkable features: the story of a girlwho forges a positive identity in the teeth of her stepfather's abuse; thedepiction of a poor, Southern extended family; and great storytelling. Allisonreceived mainstream recognition with this novel, a finalist for the 1992National Book Award. The novel won the Ferro Grumley prize and became a bestseller and award-winning movie. It has been translated into more than a dozenlanguages.The expanded edition of Allison's short-story collection Trash (2002) included the prize winning short story, "Compassion," selected for both Best American Short Stories 2003 and Best New Stories from the South 2003. Allison'schapbook of poetry, The Women Who Hate Me, was published with Long Haul Pressin 1983. A novel, She Who, is forthcoming.Dorothy Allison was Emory University Center for Humanistic Inquiry'sDistinguished Visiting Professor, Spring, 2008. In 2006, she was writer inresidence at Columbia College in Chicago. This fall, Allison is the McGeeProfessor and writer in residence at Davidson College in North Carolina.Contact Mary Adams<mailto:madams@wcu.edu> at x3270 or Rob Neufeld at theCitizen-Times for more information.