University Communications
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: Jan. 19, 2000
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Assistant Director, 404-727-0644, or dhammac@emory.edu

Award-Winning Emory Authors Jim Grimsley, Joseph Skibell To Give Fiction and Play Readings Jan. 26 and 30

Jan. 26

Novelists and playwrights Jim Grimsley and Joseph Skibell will read from their recent and forthcoming works, followed by a reception and book signing. Grimsley will read from his novels "My Drowning" and "Winter Birds." Skibell will read from his novel in progress, "The English Disease." 8:15 p.m. Joseph Jones Room, Woodruff Library, 540 Asbury Circle, Emory. Free. 404-727-4683

Jan. 30

The Playwriting Center of Theater Emory presents readings of plays by new Emory English faculty Joseph Skibell and Jim Grimsley. "Edge in Wordwise" by Skibell at 5:30 p.m. "In Berlin" by Grimsley at 7:30 p.m.

Mary Gray Munroe Theater, Dobbs University Center, 605 Asbury Circle, Emory. Free, but note that "In Berlin" contains strong adult themes and may not be suitable for younger audience members. 404-727-0524

The two newest faculty members of Emory's Creative Writing Program both have written novels influenced by fairy tales that fall on the decidedly dark side of fairy tale tradition without being morbid. In addition to being award-winning novelists, Jim Grimsley and Joseph Skibell are successful playwrights, and the two will read from their fiction and drama works at Emory Jan. 26 and 30. Both events are free and open to the public, but note that some content in the play readings has strong adult themes and may not be appropriate for children. For more information, call 404-727-5050. A map of campus is available at www.emory.edu/MAP/.

Grimsely's first novel, "Winter Birds" (1994), is a tough, autobiographical story based on life with a brutal, alcoholic father that happened to "land in one of the grimmer fairy tales," according to the author. Skibell's acclaimed "A Blessing on the Moon" tells an allegorical Holocaust story heavily influenced by the Yiddish fairy tale tradition.

In addition to his novels "My Drowning" and "Winter Birds," Grimsley is the author of the novels "Dream Boy" and the recently released "Comfort and Joy" (Algonquin Books). He has published a collection of plays, "Mr. Universe & Other Plays," and his work has appeared in numerous anthologies, journals and magazines. His new play, "In Berlin," will have its premiere this fall at 7 Stages Theater where he is playwright-in-residence. He has had 19 plays and adaptations staged around the United States since 1983.

Among Grimsley's many awards are the 1997 Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Writers Award, a 1995 PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award for first fiction for "Winter Birds," and the 1998 Georgia Author of the Year for Fiction award for "My Drowning." He is a frequent speaker on playwriting and on Southern fiction.

In addition to "A Blessing on the Moon" (Penguin), Skibell is the author of many short stories, articles and essays, eight plays and three screenplays. For "A Blessing on the Moon" Skibell was the recipient of the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Steven Turner Prize for First Fiction from Texas Institute of Letters, and a Publishers Weekly Notable Book and Amazon.com Top Ten Literature and Fiction Books of the Year award for 1997.

Skibell has written and spoken frequently on the topic of the Holocaust in fiction, including speaking on "Holocaust: What to Tell the Next Generation," with Deborah Lipstadt, director of the Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory, at the United Jewish Appeal Young Leadership Cabinet in Washington, D.C. (March 1998). "A Blessing on the Moon" was acclaimed for its melding of contemporary fiction and the tradition of Yiddish folk tales to tell a story born out of his family's losses during the Holocaust. The novel's narrator is based upon, and named after, his great-grandfather, who was a Polish Jew killed during World War II.

To read more about Grimsley and Skibell, go to the current on-line edition of Emory Magazine: www.emory.edu/EMORY_MAGAZINE/.

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