Contact: Maridith Geuder
A former Mississippian who has gained fame for her fiction and short stories is the featured speaker for a March 27 event at Mississippi State University.
Beverly Lowry, who grew up in Greenville and now lives in Texas, will be keynote speaker for the annual Friends of Mississippi State University Libraries dinner. Tickets for the 6 p.m. event at Mitchell Memorial Library are $17 per person.
Lowry holds the Coal Royalty Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Alabama this spring. She has earned a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, as well as a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.
She has taught at Southwest Texas State University, the University of Houston, Columbia University, and the University of Montana, among others.
Her books of fiction include the 1994 "The Track of Real Desires," published by Alfred A. Knopf; "Daddy's Girl" (1981), "The Perfect Sonya" (1987), and "Breaking Gentle" (1988), all published by Viking; and "Come Back, Lolly Ray" (1977) and "Emma Blue" (1978), both published by Doubleday.
In addition, Lowry is author of one book of nonfiction, "Crossed Over," published by Knopf in 1992 and issued by Warner Books in 1993.
Her essays have appeared in publications that include Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Gettysburg Review, and Texas Monthly Magazine. Her short fiction has appeared in the Boston Globe, The Mississippi Review, Redbook, and other publications.
The Friends of Mississippi State University Libraries support efforts to increase library collections and encourage gifts and bequests to the libraries.
For more information about the event, telephone (601) 325-0812.