126
2018
NORTH CAROLINA L I T E R A R Y RE V I E W
NCLR EDITOR RECEIVES NORTH CAROLINA AWARD FOR LITERATURE Adapted from event program biography by Michele Walker
with acceptance remarks by Margaret D. Bauer
Raleigh, NC, 9 October 2017 PHOTOGRAPH BY LINDA FOX; COURTESY OF NC DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES
For her passion for Southern literature, and for her innumerable contributions to the literary legacy of North Carolina, Margaret Donovan Bauer receives the 2017 North Carolina Award for Literature. Margaret Donovan Bauer always wanted to be a teacher. An experience in a high school English class where she began to learn how to read and understand the nuances of a short story inspired her and led her to a career as an English professor. Today she is the Rives Chair of Southern Literature and Distinguished Professor of Harriot College of Arts and Sciences at East Carolina University in Greenville. A native of south Louisiana, Bauer spent many childhood summers in the mountains of North Carolina and fell in love with the state. In 1996 she realized her ambition to move to North Carolina and make her home here, joining the faculty of East Carolina University and beginning her tenure as editor of the North Carolina Literary Review. As editor of the award-winning literary journal for more than twenty years, Bauer has relished her role in promoting the literature and writers of North Carolina, introducing the work of new Tar Heel writers and rediscovering the state’s already well-known authors. Now in its 26th year, the literary review continues to thrive and receive nationwide acclaim under her leadership. Bauer has edited two books on North Carolina playwright Paul Green. She is the author of The Fiction of Ellen Gilchrist (1999), William Faulkner’s Legacy: “what shadow, what stain, what mark” (2005), Understanding Tim Gautreaux (2010), and A Study of Scarletts: Scarlett O’Hara’s Literary Daughters (2014), as well as numerous articles on Southern writers in scholarly journals. In 2007, Bauer was named one of ECU’s 10 Women of Distinction and received the Parnassus Award for Significant Editorial Achievement from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals. She is also a recipient of ECU’s Scholar/Teacher Award, Centennial Award for Excellence in Leadership, and, most recently, Lifetime Achievement Award in Research and Creative Activity. This year she will also receive the 2017 R. Hunt Parker Award for Literary Achievement, acknowledging her significant contributions to the literary life of North Carolina, from the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association.
The 2017 North Carolina awards were presented by Governor Roy Cooper at a banquet and gala in Raleigh, where attendees watched the honorees talk about their work in short films produced from interviews conducted by Michelle Walker, Public Information Officer at the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. North Carolina Award recipients each had the opportunity to give acceptance remarks. n n n
Thank you to all who have made this honor possible, with special thanks to the women who put the video together. It was such fun talking with you. Who doesn’t enjoy talking about her work? If you don’t, as my father would say, find the work that does make you happy. I wish he could be here, so he could see the fruits of his not having limited expectations for his daughters. Thank you, Governor Cooper, Secretary Hamilton; I am honored to be recognized by the state that is now my home state. Thank you to ECU Provost Ron Mitchelson, Harriot College Dean of Arts and Sciences William Downs, English Department Chair Marianne Montgomery and former Chair Jeffrey Johnson, all here tonight as per their usual support of my work and of the mission of the North Carolina
ABOVE NCLR Editor and 2017 North Carolina Award for Literature recipient
Margaret Bauer with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Susi Hamilton
MICHELE WALKER is Public Information Officer at North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.