Eudora Welty Foundation
- Eudora Welty Foundation
Since the report from the Eudora Welty Foundation published in the Volume 9 Spring 2017 edition of the Eudora Welty Review, the Foundation has engaged in some stimulating new activities and produced rewarding installments of other on-going programs and projects. The Foundation partners with many organizations to promote Welty’s literary and photographic legacy and to encourage reading and writing. We present events and develop resources for students, teachers, scholars, and the public and assist the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in the preservation of the Welty House and Garden.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Presented Second Annual Eudora Welty Lecture
Internationally acclaimed author and lecturer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie delivered the second annual Eudora Welty Lecture to a sold-out audience at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC, on November 8, 2017. A native of Nigeria, Adichie spent college and graduate school years in the United States and splits her time today between her homeland and the US. Adichie spoke of her love of books and her early reading, as Welty did in One Writer’s Beginnings. She also discussed experiences in Nigeria as well as the United States that have contributed to her writing.
The audience was welcomed by Holmes Adams, Welty Foundation Board Chair, and Adichie was introduced by W. Ralph Eubanks, author, professor, and member of the Welty Foundation National Advisory Board. Eubanks delivered moving tributes to Welty and Adichie. The introductions and lecture may be seen on CSpan 2 Book TV.
Adichie’s novels, stories, and nonfiction works have been translated into more than thirty languages. The Danger of a Single Story, her 2009 TED Talk, is one of the most viewed TED Talks of all time. Her works on feminism have garnered worldwide attention. Her work has received numerous awards, and she was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow.
The lecture was sponsored by the Eudora Welty Foundation in collaboration with the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and was generously endowed [End Page 155] by Martha Dowd Dalrymple and the family of Eudora Welty. The 2018 lecturer will be announced very soon. Check eudorawelty.org/news-events for details.
New Online Teacher Resource Explores “Where Is the Voice Coming From?”
Welty’s story about the murder of Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers, told from the point of view of the assassin, is the subject of a robust, comprehensive teaching unit, accessible through a secure registration portal on eudorawelty.org under “Teacher Resources” on the home page.
In research, production, and review for the last two years, the unit is an expansion of an earlier teaching resource about the story. The unit is enhanced with some 100 visuals including photographs, historical documents, correspondence, manuscripts, and newspaper clippings. Other teaching aids include website links, audio recordings, essays, scholar review excerpts, and classroom instructional guides.
Another teacher resource unit is now in production focusing on three Welty stories that take place during the Great Depression—”Death of a Traveling Salesman,” “Flowers for Marjorie,” and “The Whistle.” It is expected to be launched before the 2018 fall semester.
Alice McDermott Shares Her Love of Writing at the Bettye Jolly Lecture
National Book Award-winner Alice McDermott brought her stories of New York Irish Catholic life to a large crowd gathered for the fourth annual Bettye Jolly Lecture held in the garden at the Welty House on March 8. McDermott read to a delighted audience from her eighth novel, The Ninth Hour, finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award.
McDermott spoke of her admiration for Eudora Welty and how she was drawn to Welty’s use of the word “confluence” and described how it guided her writing of The Ninth Hour. The lecture may be heard online at eudorawelty.org. She was introduced by Suzanne Marrs, Welty Foundation Scholar-in-Residence, who also led audience discussion.
A special connection between McDermott and Marrs was celebrated as well. McDermott was a student of Marrs’s at State University of New York in Oswego before Marrs moved to Jackson, met Eudora Welty, and began her career at Millsaps College. Today McDermott is the Richard A. Macksey Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University. [End...
