North Carolina poet and novelist Ron Rash will receive the 2013 Thomas Wolfe Prize and deliver the annual lecture Oct. 2 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The free public talk will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Genome Sciences Building auditorium, 250 Bell Tower Road.
Rash’s prose is grounded in the cadences of his native North Carolina mountains. Over the course of his career, he has published four books of poetry, five short story collections and five novels.
Rash’s latest novel, “The Cove” (2012), is a heartbreaking account of prejudice and hate brought on by the first World War — and the love and tragedy it brings to one mountain community.
His novel “Serena” (2008) tells the story of an unforgettable title character — a sort of Lady Macbeth — whose ambition powers the clear cutting of the mountains’ majestic forests. The major motion picture version of the book, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, is scheduled for release this fall.
The annual lecture and prize honor Thomas Wolfe, author of “Look Homeward, Angel,” who graduated from Carolina in 1920.
Website: http://englishcomplit.unc.edu/wolfe
English department contact: Susan Irons, (919) 962-4283, Susan_Irons@unc.edu
College of Arts and Sciences contact: Kim Spurr, (919) 962-4093, spurrk@email.unc.edu