Tuesday, October 01, 2002

WILMINGTON, NC – The UNC Wilmington Creative Writing Department is pleased to announce novelist Clyde Edgerton’s appointment as a tenured professor. Mr. Edgerton will teach year-round in both the Master of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts programs while continuing his role as a thesis supervisor for graduate students.

Mr. Edgerton has previously been a distinguished visiting professor with the UNCW Creative Writing Department. “We are very excited that his four-year association as a visiting professor has led to this permanent relationship,” said Mark Cox, chair of the Department of Creative Writing. “Clyde has already had a significant impact on our department. Knowing what an extraordinary writer and educator he truly is, the faculty of the Creative Writing Department has unanimously accepted him into the fold.”

The North Carolina native is the author of seven novels, including Raney, Walking Across Egypt, and The Floatplane Notebooks. “I think everybody needs a community; however writers seem to need to go it alone,” Mr. Edgerton said. “I am fortunate, very fortunate, to find myself among a group of writing teachers who seem devoted to helping writing students gain insights into craft. I feel honored—and lucky—to be involved with the program on a permanent basis.”

Mr. Edgerton’s writing has appeared in Best American Short Stories, Southern Review, Oxford American, and The New York Times, among others. While a distinguished visiting professor in the UNCW Creative Writing Department, Mr. Edgerton received the first Alumni Achievement Award from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education. He is the recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and several honorary degrees.

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