Novelist Linda Busby Parker to speak Jan. 25 at Wofford
January 22, 2018
Author to discuss ‘Creative Writing: A Dangerous Activity”
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Award-winning novelist Linda Busby Parker will speak at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, at Wofford College on “Creative Writing: A Dangerous Activity.”
Parker, author of “Seven Laurels” and “Oliver’s Song,” is presenting as part of an Interim course, U.S. Civil Rights History, being taught by Dr. Frank Machovec, professor of economics. Her talk, to be held in the Papadopoulos Room in the Papadopoulos Building at Wofford, will focus on fiction writing, specifically on the tasks of storytelling, such as plot and character development. The talk is free and open to the public.
Machovec’s class is reading Parker’s award-winning first novel “Seven Laurels,” which traces the trials and tribulations of a young black man (and later, his family) from the 1940s through the 1980s. The protagonist, who is not college educated, overcomes the humiliations of the Jim Crow era. He not only survives, but also prospers and successfully aids the struggle for civil rights. Yet, tragedy strikes late in his life.
Parker, who holds a Ph.D. and an MFA, has served as a Tennessee Williams Scholar in Fiction at the Sewanee Writer’s Conference and a Fellow in Fiction at the Bread Loaf Institute for Writing at Middlebury College.
Wofford College
Wofford College, established in 1854, is a four-year, residential liberal arts college located in Spartanburg, S.C. It offers 25 major fields of study to a student body of 1,690 undergraduates. Nationally known for the strength of its academic program, outstanding faculty, study abroad participation and successful graduates, Wofford is home to one of the nation’s 283 Phi Beta Kappa chapters. The college community enjoys Greek Life as well as 19 NCAA Division I athletics teams.
