{"id":27467,"date":"2024-09-06T15:04:26","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T19:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www3.tusculum.edu\/news\/?p=27467"},"modified":"2024-09-06T15:04:26","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T19:04:26","slug":"award-winning-southern-author-dale-neal-to-conduct-reading-answer-questions-at-tusculum-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www3.tusculum.edu\/news\/news\/2024\/award-winning-southern-author-dale-neal-to-conduct-reading-answer-questions-at-tusculum-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning Southern author Dale Neal to conduct reading, answer questions at Tusculum University"},"content":{"rendered":"

GREENEVILLE<\/strong> \u2013 An accomplished writer with a deep understanding of the Southern Appalachian culture will share his wisdom and his words during an upcoming reading at Tusculum University<\/a>.<\/h3>\n
\"Dale

Dale Neal<\/p><\/div>\n

Dale Neal, a novelist, teacher and journalist, will appear in Behan Arena Theatre Thursday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. as part of the Fall Humanities Reading Series. He will read some of his works, answer questions and participate in further interaction at a reception in the Behan lobby afterward. The event is free and open to the public and the Tusculum family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose Dale to be the speaker because, as a prominent Appalachian voice, he is uniquely positioned to combat some of the myths of this part of the country and to praise its unique beauty,\u201d said Dr. Josh Martin, assistant professor of English<\/a> at Tusculum, who is organizing the event. \u201cThe region is a\u00a0melting pot of culture, literature, cuisine and tradition, and Dale’s work reflects all of these great attributes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Martin said Kelsey Trom, associate professor of English and the Harriett Reaves Neff \u201921 Chair of Fine Arts at Tusculum, identified Neal as an ideal speaker. He wholeheartedly agrees with her assessment, calling him one of the more prominent writers in Appalachia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile many writers have reduced the region to something \u2018corn pone,\u2019 Dale has the unique gift of crafting a story firmly set in Appalachia, while also complicating the region,\u201d Dr. Martin said. \u201cGiven the history of Appalachian stereotypes, Dale\u2019s ability to describe the region in complex, nuanced ways is a sociocultural boon.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his bio, Neal describes how the mountains in North Carolina held a significant influence over him. Among his most vivid memories were high hemlock-covered ridges and his grandfather\u2019s farm, which included a small tobacco allotment, vegetables, chickens and cows.<\/p>\n

\u201cI roamed his woods; explored the granite cropping of the Raven Rock; climbed Frozen Head Mountain; pocketed lucky, smooth nuts from the tree that gave Buckeye Mountain its name; and steered clear of Snake Mountain,\u201d Neal said. \u201cIt was a place with specific names and stories I devoured as a boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neal later spent more time in the mountains when he served as a reporter for the Citizen Times in Asheville, North Carolina. In his bio, he uses the reference to the newspaper to drop the name of famous author Thomas Wolfe, who was from that city and was well-known for books such as \u201cLook Homeward, Angel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neal\u2019s novels include \u201cCow Across America,\u201d winner of the 2009 Novello Literary Award, and \u201cAppalachia Book of the Dead,\u201d finalist for the 2020 Thomas Wolfe Literary Award. He also wrote \u201cThe Half-Life of Home\u201d in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many Southern novels fall prey to the Gothic stereotypes of moonshine, front porch soliloquies and snake handling set in a nostalgic past,\u201d Neal said. \u201cI wanted to write about the people who live in an ancient land in our changing times. All my novels have been set in these woods, exploring modern dilemmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

His most recent novel is \u201cKings of Coweetsee,\u201d which he summarizes this way:<\/p>\n

\u201cBirdie Barker Price keeps the history of her remote mountain county at the local historical society. Birdie still likes to sing the murder ballads of women wronged and even killed by their lovers. Coweetsee\u2019s curse is that nothing ever changes, but Birdie suspects that may not be true. When Birdie finds a long-missing ballot box from a stolen election on her front porch, she opens a Pandora\u2019s box of vote-buying, betrayals, child brides and suspicious deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neal\u2019s short fiction and essays have appeared in publications such as \u201cCarolina Quarterly,\u201d \u201cFour Way Review\u201d and \u201cNorth Carolina Literary Review.\u201d<\/p>\n

He received his bachelor\u2019s degree from Wake Forest University and his Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Warren Wilson College. He earned fellowships at Virginia Center for the Arts, Hambidge Center and Weymouth House.\u00a0During his 38-year, award-winning journalism career, he attained fellowships from the Gralla institute for Jewish Studies at Brandeis University and in religion reporting at the Knight Center at the University of Maryland. Neal teaches fiction writing at the Asheville Graduate Center of Lenoir-Rhyne University.<\/p>\n

Dr. Martin said goals of the Humanity Series include bringing well-respected writers to Tusculum to foster a literary spirit and start the fall semester with an academic, student-focused activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing Dale to Tusculum’s campus reflects another Humanities Series’ goal of enriching our broader Appalachian community with important literary and cultural voices,\u201d he said. \u201cCultural expectations and representations of Appalachia are often misleading, and we want the series to emphasize the complexity of the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about Neal\u2019s writings, please visit https:\/\/www.dalenealbooks.com\/<\/a>. Further detail about Tusculum\u2019s English program is available at https:\/\/site.tusculum.edu\/english-2\/<\/a>. Additional information about the university can be accessed at www.tusculum.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GREENEVILLE<\/strong> \u2013 An accomplished writer with a deep understanding of the Southern Appalachian culture will share his wisdom and his words during an upcoming reading at Tusculum University<\/a>.<\/h3>\n

Dale Neal, a novelist, teacher and journalist, will appear in Behan Arena Theatre Thursday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. as part of the Fall Humanities Reading Series. He will read some of his works, answer questions and participate in further interaction at a reception in the Behan lobby afterward. The event is free and open to the public and the Tusculum family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose Dale to be the speaker because, as a prominent Appalachian voice, he is uniquely positioned to combat some of the myths of this part of the country and to praise its unique beauty,\u201d said Dr. Josh Martin, assistant professor of English<\/a> at Tusculum, who is organizing the event. \u201cThe region is a\u00a0melting pot of culture, literature, cuisine and tradition, and Dale’s work reflects all of these great attributes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[131,91,7,160,19,142,169,146,1,6,148,147,149,172],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAward-winning Southern author Dale Neal to conduct reading, answer questions at Tusculum University :: Tusculum University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www3.tusculum.edu\/news\/news\/2024\/award-winning-southern-author-dale-neal-to-conduct-reading-answer-questions-at-tusculum-university\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Award-winning Southern author Dale Neal to conduct reading, answer questions at Tusculum University :: Tusculum University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GREENEVILLE \u2013 An accomplished writer with a deep understanding of the Southern Appalachian culture will share his wisdom and his words during an upcoming reading at Tusculum University. Dale Neal, a novelist, teacher and journalist, will appear in Behan Arena Theatre Thursday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. as part of the Fall Humanities Reading Series. He will read some of his works, answer questions and participate in further interaction at a reception in the Behan lobby afterward. The event is free and open to the public and the Tusculum family. \u201cWe chose Dale to be the speaker because, as a prominent Appalachian voice, he is uniquely positioned to combat some of the myths of this part of the country and to praise its unique beauty,\u201d said Dr. Josh Martin, assistant professor of English at Tusculum, who is organizing the event. \u201cThe region is a\u00a0melting pot of culture, literature, cuisine and tradition, and Dale’s work reflects all of these great attributes.\u201d Read the full article...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www3.tusculum.edu\/news\/news\/2024\/award-winning-southern-author-dale-neal-to-conduct-reading-answer-questions-at-tusculum-university\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY NEWS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-06T19:04:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" 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