Georgia Writers Hall of Fame set for Nov. 4-5

Submitted by cleveland on

The 2018 Georgia Writers Hall of Fame events will begin Nov. 4 with a panel discussion of a new book on the late novelist Pat Conroy.

Published by the University of Georgia Press, Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy is a collection of stories from fellow writers he nurtured, including Grammy winners, National Book Award winners, James Beard Foundation winners and New York Times best-sellers, along with a cadre of friends and family members. At 3 p.m. contributors Terry Kay, Cynthia Graubart, and Cliff Graubart will participate in the discussion moderated by the book's editor Jonathan Haupt.

Conroy was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2004.

At 5 p.m. 2018 inductees Michael Bishop and Cynthia Shearer will participate in a moderated conversation. A reception will follow.

Along with Bishop and Shearer, this year’s inductees include Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage, a 2018 Oprah’s Book Club selection. Posthumously being honored are Furman Bisher, a prolific and highly regarded sportswriter and editor became sports editor at the Atlanta Constitution in 1950 and continued with the paper until his retirement in 2009; and Frances Newman, whose novels reveal, often hilariously, how the thoughts of her characters conflict with the socially imposed facade of behavior expected of the southern lady. Her premature death in 1928 at the height of her literary powers precluded the writing of several planned novels. Denounced by the influential Southern Agrarians because she unveiled the pervasive sexism and racism of the patriarchal South, Newman was excluded from the canon of southern literature and has only recently been rediscovered.

The Georgia Writers Hall of Fame ceremony will be held Nov. 5 at 10 a.m. All events are in the auditorium of the UGA Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries, 300 S. Hull St.

An exhibit featuring works of the 2018 class of inductees will be on display through Dec. 22.