RENAISSANCE HOTEL, ASHEVILLE, NC
UPDATE: Unfortunately, the 2020 Thomas Wolfe Society Meeting, originally scheduled to take place on May 29-30 in Asheville, North Carolina has been postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The organizers will attempt to reschedule the conference either in the fall of 2020 or spring 2021.
Stay tuned for further announcements.
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ORIGINAL SCHEDULE
THE 42nd ANNUAL TWS MEETING: ASHEVILLE, NC
Friday, May 29, 2020 – Morning Session
8:30-10:30 Board of Directors Meeting
11:00-12:00 Registration
12:00-12:15 Welcome and Prologue
Welcome: Terry Roberts, National Paideia Center Director and President, Thomas Wolfe Society
Prologue: Mary Aswell Doll, Savannah College of Art and Design
12:15-1:00 Session I (Moderator: Terry Roberts, National Paideia Center)
Welcome: Darin Waters, Executive Director of Community Engagement University of North Carolina at Asheville
Break (1:00-1:20)
1:20-2:20 Session II (Moderator: Ruth Moose, Pittsboro, NC)
— “Wolfe from the Pulpit” Deacon Herbert Gimbel, Archdiocese of Newark, NJ
— “Asheville’s Native Sons: Thomas Wolfe and John Ehle” Alana Dagenhart, Johnson & Wales University
— “Fathers, Sons, Artistic Failures and Triumphs in Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel and Phillip Lewis’s The Barrowfields” George Hovis, State University of New York Oneonta
2:20-2:40 Recognition of Charter Members
Presenter: Ray Walker, Decatur, GA
Break (2:40 – 3:00)
3:00–3:45 Session III (Moderator: Bill Turner, Arlington, VA)
— “Willie Morris: A Mississippi Wolfean” Ed Yoder, Chapel Hill, NC
— “Telling It All: Thomas Wolfe and James Jones” Sue Fields Ross, Swansboro, NC
3:45–4:00 Distinguished Service Awards
— Amélie Moisy, Paris, France
— Arnold Wengrow, Asheville, NC
Presenter: J. Todd Bailey, Burnsville, NC
Break (4:00 – 4:15)
4:15–5:00 Oteen Cabin Update: Stacy Merten, Principal Planner, Asheville Department of Planning and Urban Design
5:00 Reception: The Thomas Wolfe Memorial
Dinner on Your Own
7:30 Dramatic Reading: “The Storyteller” by Sara Jean Accuardi, Winner of the 2020 Thomas Wolfe International Playwriting Competition
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Saturday, May 30, 2020 – Morning Session
8:00-9:00 Breakfast on the porch of the Old Kentucky Home
9:00-9:45 Session IV (Moderator: Margie Kashdin, Brevard, NC)
— “Angels and Goddesses: Messages from the Bijou and Beyond” Dana Reaume, Fort Benning, GA
— “The Skin Artist: Shades of Thomas Wolfe in the New South”
Paula Gallant Eckard, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
9:45-10:00 Citation of Merit President Terry Roberts presiding
Break (10:30-10:45)
10:45-11:30 Session V (Moderator: Wayne Caldwell, Candler, NC)
— “How Much Beauty and Genius, Herman Hesse Encounters Thomas Wolfe” Steven B. Rogers, Washington, DC
— “Thomas Wolfe, Eugene O’Neill and All Those Difficult Mothers” Joseph Bentz, Azusa Pacific University
11:45-12:00 Final Words: Terry Roberts, President
Epilogue: Jan Hensley, Greensboro, NC
Lunch on Your Own
Saturday, May 30, 2020 – Afternoon Session
2:00-2:30 “Wilma Dykeman and the Wolfe Family” James Stokely, President, Wilma Dykeman Legacy
2:30-4:30 Wilma Dykeman Home Tour, Meet in the Renaissance Hotel Lobby
Saturday, May 30, 2020 – Evening Session
6:00-7:00 Cash Bar (Renaissance Hotel)
Books by Wolfe Society Authors Available for Sale and Signing
7:00 Banquet (Renaissance Hotel)
Awards Ceremony: President Terry Roberts
Introduction of the Speaker: Tom Muir, Historic Site Manager, Thomas Wolfe Memorial
Address: “Writing the Almost True Story” Stephanie Powell Watts, Lehigh University
2020 Conference Committee: Tom Muir, Terry Roberts, Lynn Roberts, Ray Walker, Colin Walker