UNC Asheville to Host Acclaimed Writer Karen Essex;
Named 2006 P.B. Parris Visiting Writer

UNC Asheville will host a reading by renowned author Karen Essex at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 16, at UNC Asheville’s Reuter Center. UNC Asheville’s Creative Writing Program named Essex the 2006 P.B. Parris Visiting Writer. The event is free and open to the public.

Essex has published several popular novels, including “Kleopatra,” “Pharaoh,” and her most recent, “Leonardo’s Swans.” An award-winning journalist, her articles and essays have been published in Vogue, TV Guide and LA Weekly magazine. After receiving the highest honors from the Los Angeles Press Club for her cover story about missing 1950’s pinup legend Bettie Page, Essex co-authored her biography, “Bettie Page: Life of a Pinup Legend.” She is the first and only journalist to meet and interview the reclusive Page. Essex has appeared on The Today Show and a host of other television and radio programs.

Essex’s visit is made possible by an endowment established by the friends of P.B. Parris, a retired UNC Asheville creative writing professor and author of "Waltzing in the Attic."

For more information, call Cynn Chadwick, UNC Asheville literature and language lecturer, at 828/251-6579.

Media Contacts:

• Cynn Chadwick, UNC Asheville Literature and Language Lecturer, 828/251-6579

• Jill Yarnall, UNC Asheville Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526