Thursday, February 24, 2011

Highly influential American feminist and writer Elaine Showalter will speak and give a reading to students, faculty and community members at 4:30 p.m. Monday, March 7, in Lumina Theater at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her topic is "Writing the History of American Women Writers." Showalter's reading will be followed by a Q&A session and book signing as part of the university's Bucker Lecture Series.

This event is free and open to the public but does require tickets, which will be available at the door.

A well-known and at times controversial public intellectual, Showalter has written and edited numerous books and articles on a variety of subjects, ranging from feminist literary criticism to fashion and illnesses. Her best-known works are Toward a Feminist Poetics (1979), The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980 (1985), Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siecle (1990), Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media (1997) and Inventing Herself: Claiming a Feminist Intellectual Heritage (2001).

Showalter is one of the founders of feminist literary criticism in American academia, most notably developing the concept of "gynocritics." Her academic honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship (1977-78) and a Rockefeller Humanities fellowship (1981-82).She is also a past president of the Modern Language Association (MLA). In 2007, Showalter was chair of the judges for the prestigious British literary award, the Man Booker International Prize.

Showalter earned her bachelor's degree at Bryn Mawr College, a master's degree at Brandeis University and a Ph.D. in 1970 at the University of California, Davis. She joined Princeton University's faculty in 1984.

The Buckner Lecture Series was established in UNCW's Department of English by donor Charles F. Green III to provide funding to bring distinguished guest presenters to the university and to honor his friend, Katherine K. Buckner. This event is co-sponsored by the Department of English and the Department of Creative Writing.

For further information, please visit www.uncw.edu/english/buckner.html or contact the chair of the Buckner Lecture Committee, Mark Boren, at borenm@uncw.edu.

Media contact:
Dana Fischetti, media relations manager, 910.508.3127 or fischettid@uncw.edu