For release: April 8, 2011
For press information, contact Gabrielle Maxey, 901/678-2843

Madison Smartt Bell

A native of Nashville, Bell lives in Baltimore with his wife, poet Elizabeth Spires.  He teaches at Goucher College, where he holds the Chair for Distinguished Achievement. He edited New Stories from the South 2009 and has written essays and reviews for numerous publications including the Huffington Post, The Village Voice, Harper’s and The New York Times Book Review.

Bell’s 15 novels include Doctor Sleep, Anything Goes, Soldier’s Joy, andDevil’s Dream.  His latest novel, The Color of Night, was released in paperback this month.

His eighth novel, All Souls’ Rising, was a finalist for the 1995 National Book Award and the 1996 PEN/Faulkner Award, and won the 1996 Anisfield-Wolf Award as the best book of the year dealing with matters of race.  Bell has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The River City Writers Series is sponsored by the Writing Program, the Creative Writing Club, the Department of English, the Hohenberg Foundation, Student Event Allocation, the Fellowship of Southern Writers, P.A.U.S.E. (Professional Assertive United Sisters of Excellence), and Stonewall Tigers.

RCWS is the longest running reading series in the nation, serving the U of M and the community since 1977.

For more information, email creativewriting@memphis.edu or call 901-678-4692.