Jill McCorkle is a native
of Lumberton, North Carolina. She
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graduated from Lumberton
High School in 1976, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in
1980, and from the Hollins College Masters Program in Writing in 1981.
McCorkle acquired a remarkably full literary resume at a very young age; she was
26 years old when she made publishing history in 1984, having her first two
novels published simultaneously. While a student at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, she was the recipient of the Jesse Rehder Prize, the
University's most prestigious writing award, and she received her B.A. with
highest honors in Creative Writing. As a graduate student at Hollins, she won
the Andrew James Purdy Prize for fiction. After earning her MFA, she taught
writing at Duke University, Tufts University, and the University of North
Carolina. She currently teaches writing at Harvard University and Bennington
College.
McCorkle is a frequent reviewer for The New York Times Book Review and
has also reviewed for The Washington Post, the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, New York Woman, and many North Carolina
newspapers. Her short stories have been widely published in literary journals,
commercial magazines and anthologies, including The Atlantic Monthly, Cosmopolitan,
and Ladies' Home Journal.
McCorkle's novels have had wide international distribution. Foreign rights have
been sold in Britain, Sweden, France, and Japan. Paperback editions of The
Cheer Leader and July 7th were released by Viking-Penguin
(Contemporary American Series) in 1985 and were reissued in 1992 by Algonquin's
Front Porch Paperback series. Tending to Virginia (1987), Ferris Beach
(1991), and Carolina Moon (1996) were represented by Fawcett.
Like
many authors, Ms. McCorkle began to write as a child, but it was as a Sophomore
in college that she seriously began her writing career. She sites such authors
as Eudora Welty, Katherine Anne Porter and Truman Capote as being among those
who inspire her, and says, "I still cling to Harper Lee's To Kill A
Mockingbird." Other works she enjoys reading are by more contemporary
writers, authors such as Kaye Gibbons, Doris Betts, Richard Bausch, Smartt Bell,
and Larry Brown, to name a few. Her list goes on as Alice Hoffman, Sue Miller,
Jayne Anne Phillips, Tim O'Brien, John Updike, and Charles Baxter appear. Ms.
McCorkle says she does not limit her reading to novels but also likes to read
short stories and poetry.
Authors Max Steele and Lee Smith and the founder of Algonquin Books, Louis D.
Rubin, Jr.--all teachers at the University of North Carolina at the time--served
as mentors to Ms. McCorkle during her career. "They are the reasons I
continued writing," she says simply. Max Steele's collections of short
stories and prolific author Lee Smith's beautifully written southern novels
compliment Ms. McCorkle's own richly detailed creative voice.
Ms. McCorkle considers Carolina Moon and Tending to Virginia to be
her most satisfying works. Drawing from a long history of oral tradition in the
south, Ms. McCorkle evokes the honesty of the land and characters around her.
Following in the footsteps of authors like Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird),
Carson McCullers (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter) and Sherwood Anderson (Winesburg,
Ohio), she reminds readers of the poignant tragedy in real life while
uplifting them with its wonder.
When asked about the humor often found in her work, Ms. McCorkle replies,
"I've been told that I'm funny. I love to be funny, and I'm disappointed
when I'm not funny. I look for humor and sure enough it can always be
found--sometimes in the most serious of moments--as a way of handling the
situation. The funniest things in life are very often tied to something quite
heavy and dark. What's being told isn't usually funny, but the way it's told
is."
Jill McCorkle considers her work to be reflections from a humanist, a term she
prefers over "feminist writer". "I write about people who are
figuring out where they fit in society and how to reach a certain level of
acceptance," she says and continues, "Oftentimes I start out with an
idea just because it is funny, but then I like to find the darker part of the
story."
It is this depth of character Ms. McCorkle develops that continues to fascinate
her readers. She traces and finds the secret--of being human.
The Cheer Leader
July 7th,
Tending to Virginia
Ferris Beach
Carolina Moon
Crash Diet
Final Vinyl Days