NC Literary Trails: Western

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Received her Master of Fine Arts from UNC-Greensboro, where she also taught poetry.
• Served as poet-in-residence at Western Carolina University and Lenoir-Rhyne University.
• Lived in Cullowhee, NC.
• Became the first female North Carolina Poet Laureate in 2005.
• Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2012.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Bartram moved from Philadelphia to Bladen County, NC where his uncle had a large plantation on the Cape Fear River.
• Family highway marker in Bladen County where he built his family's Ashwood Plantation.
• Explored Nantahala Forest.
• The Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy, formerly known as the North Carolina Bartram Trail Society, was created in 1977. Their goal is to establish and maintain a 110 mile memorial trail that follows Bartram's route through northeast Georgia and western North Carolina and to promote inquiry and knowledge about the plants and animals of the southern Appalachians and Cherokee people.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Born in Canton, NC.
• Worked as a proofreader at Duke University Press in Durham, NC.
• Attended Duke University.
• Taught English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
• Named as the North Carolina Poet Laureate in 1997.
• Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2006.
• Fred Chappell papers, 1944-2023 and undated available at Duke University Libraries.
• Recipient of the Thomas Wolfe Prize from UNC in 2005.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Frazier was born in Asheville, NC and spent his childhood in the towns of Franklin and Andrews.
• Received a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master's from Appalachian State University.
• Taught at North Carolina State University.
• His novel Cold Mountain is set in the mountain of the same name.
• Cold Mountain was inspired by stories handed down by Frazier's great-great-uncle, William Pinkney Inman. Inman was from Haywood County near Cold Mountain and served in the Confederate Army. He is buried in the Bethel Community Cemetery in Bethel, Haywood County.
• Lived near Raleigh, NC but now resides back in Asheville.
• Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2022.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Spent her childhood living in Asheville, NC.
• Attended St. Genevieve's of the Pines, a Catholic school for girls, now Carolina Day School. Her time here inspired her novel, Unfinished Desires.
• Attended Peace College (now known as William Peace University) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Papers available at UNC's Southern Historical Collection at Wilson Library.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Born in Hendersonville, NC and grew up near the Blue Ridge Mountains.
• Attended UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Greensboro.
• Studied with Fred Chappell at UNC-Greensboro.
• Served as a visiting writer at Davidson College, Duke University, Appalachian State, and East Carolina University.
• Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2010.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Moved to Flat Rock, NC in 1945.
• His home, Connemara Farm, is a historic site.
• Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in Flat Rock, NC.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Born in Taskigi, which was part of North Carolina at that time, but is now Tuskegee, Tennessee.
• Lived with the Cherokee people in western North Carolina.
• Invented Cherokee syllabary in 1821.
• His creation led to thousands of Cherokee people learning to read and write, and inspired the printing of books and a newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, published in the Cherokee language.
• Cherokee syllabary is still in use today throughout the Cherokee Nation and is the official co-language along with English. It is taught to students in grade schools and universities in Oklahoma and North Carolina.
• See examples of Cherokee syllabary and a page from the Cherokee Phoenix.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Nina Simone was born in Tryon, NC in Polk County. Her childhood home still stands there, and efforts are currently being made to save it.
• She attended Allen High School for Girls in Asheville, NC.
• Langston Hughes visited Simone's high school in 1949 as a speaker. Years later, the two became friends and corresponded regularly.

Biographical Information

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• Moved to Chapel Hill in 1986.
• Taught writing at UNC-Chapel Hill.
• Montreat, NC is the subject of some of her essays.
• The Carolina Story: A Virtual Museum of University History entry for Spencer from UNC.
• Awarded the North Carolina Award for Literature in 1994.
• Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2002.
• Watch Spencer's interview with NC Bookwatch.
• UNC remembers Spencer.

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• Received the Angier Biddle Duke scholarship to attend Duke University at 16 years old and graduated in three years.
• Reynolds Price taught Tyler during his first year teaching at Duke. In an interview he later said that she was nearly as good of a writer as she was in adulthood. Fred Chappell was also in her class.
• Published her short story "Laura" in the Duke literary journal The Archive while she was an undergraduate student.
• Tyler returned to Duke and worked as a Russian bibliographer for the library.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Wolfe was born in Asheville, NC in 1900.
• Asheville served as the inspiration for the fictional town Atlamont in his novel Look Homeward, Angel.
• Wolfe attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was one of the first members of Carolina Playmakers.
• The Thomas Wolfe Memorial is located in Asheville, NC.
• Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 1996.
• UNC-Chapel Hill established the Thomas Wolfe Prize and Lecture in 1999 to recognize contemporary writers. The Department of English awards the prize each fall around Wolfe's birthday on October 3rd.
• The North Carolina Writers' Network sponsors the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize. It is administered by the Great Smokies Writing Program at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
• Thomas Wolfe Society established for fans of Wolfe's work and had its first annual conference in 1980. The Thomas Wolfe Review is the official journal of the Thomas Wolfe Society and is published semiannually.
• Read more about Wolfe at the UNC-Chapel Hill Wilson Library Special Collections.