2008 Woodie Awards
Get to know and appreciate local authors
Did you know that November is Author Appreciation month?
Kate Musselwhite
Issue date: 11/14/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Greensboro native and author, Michael Parker teaches in UNCG's Creative Writing Center and is the author of three novels, Virginia Lovers, Hello Down There and Towns Without Rivers.
His latest novel, Towns Without Rivers, is a continuation of Hello Down There, named Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. It follows the same characters in Trent, N.C., as Reka, a "girl from the wrong side of the tracks," finishes her jail sentence after she give her addict boyfriend a lethal dose of morphine.
In an earlier interview, Parker said that Reka "makes some awful decisions in the book...but that's what we all do - we make questionable decisions in our lives and learn the hard way."
When asked about his acceptance of his label of "Southern writer," in a BookPage interview on his second tour, Parker said he "proudly" accepts the label but also feels that at times "it limits his work." He continued that though he is not attempting to "reinvent Southern literature," he is happy to be a part of its great tradition.
Commenting on his "Southern writing style," Parker explained that his characters either "love where they come from or hate where they come from...but they never are indifferent," which he said is thought to be an "intrinsically southern" quality.
Parker's collection of short stories, The Geographical Cure, won the 1994 Sir Walter Raleigh Award and his works have also appeared in Five Points, The Shenandoah Washington and Lee University Review, The Oxford American, New Stories from the South, and O'Henry Prize anthologies. His fourth novel is expected sometime in September.
His latest novel, Towns Without Rivers, is a continuation of Hello Down There, named Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. It follows the same characters in Trent, N.C., as Reka, a "girl from the wrong side of the tracks," finishes her jail sentence after she give her addict boyfriend a lethal dose of morphine.
In an earlier interview, Parker said that Reka "makes some awful decisions in the book...but that's what we all do - we make questionable decisions in our lives and learn the hard way."
When asked about his acceptance of his label of "Southern writer," in a BookPage interview on his second tour, Parker said he "proudly" accepts the label but also feels that at times "it limits his work." He continued that though he is not attempting to "reinvent Southern literature," he is happy to be a part of its great tradition.
Commenting on his "Southern writing style," Parker explained that his characters either "love where they come from or hate where they come from...but they never are indifferent," which he said is thought to be an "intrinsically southern" quality.
Parker's collection of short stories, The Geographical Cure, won the 1994 Sir Walter Raleigh Award and his works have also appeared in Five Points, The Shenandoah Washington and Lee University Review, The Oxford American, New Stories from the South, and O'Henry Prize anthologies. His fourth novel is expected sometime in September.
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