Monday, October 09, 2000

WILMINGTON, NC -- The UNCW Creative Writing Department and The King's Road will sponsor a reading by fiction writer Daniel Wallace at 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 19 in the university's Warwick Center Ballroom. Wallace, who is currently a visiting faculty member at UNCW, will read a short story published in the anthology of North Carolina writers, This is Where We Live. A reception and book signing will follow in the lobby. This event is free and open to the public.

Wallace has published two novels and numerous short stories. His first novel, Big Fish, was translated into German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Chinese. The movie version of Big Fish will be directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks, academy award winners for their movie American Beauty. Filming is expected to begin next summer.

Raised in Birmingham, Ala., Wallace works as an illustrator and lives with his son, Henry, in Chapel Hill where Algonquin Books released his second novel, Ray in Reverse. Booklist described it as "a delightful small package of exquisite writing. We meet Ray in Heaven as a rabble-rousing member of a 'last words' group. His story unfolds backwards. You kinda know who he is, and then you find out how he got that way. Each chapter -- a few years earlier in Ray's life than the last -- could stand alone as a charming, quirky story."

Developed to offer distinguished literary events to the Wilmington community, The King's Road Writers Series is made possible through generous funding from the Kings's Road, which offers cards, stationery and gifts in Barclay Commons at the corner of Shipyard and Independence Boulevard.

The King's Road Writers Series and the Creative Writing Department will sponsor readings by various visiting writers this fall, including poet Heather McHugh on Nov. 15. Also, a combination reading and piano presentation with Dr. Philip Furia, UNCW's director of the Film Studies Program, and pianist Grenaldo Frazier will celebrate the holiday music of Irving Berlin Dec. 11 in Kenan Auditorium.



For further information, please contact the Creative Writing Dept. at 910-962-7063.