"Karen Salyer McElmurray, Berea College Class of 1980, will return to her alma mater to give a reading on Friday, June 10, 2011.  The occasion is a celebration of the Spring issue of Appalachian Heritage, the regional literary quarterly sponsored by the College.   McElmurray served as the featured author for this issue. 

The event will be held at the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center Gallery and will begin with refreshments at 7:30.  The reading will commence at 8:00.  McElmurray’s  memoir entitled, Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother’s Journey  won the prestigious Award for Creative Nonfiction from the Associated Writing Programs, a nation-wide group of college-level writing teachers, and it was a “Notable Book” for the National Book Critics Circle.  

Her debut novel, Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven, won the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing from Kentucky’s Morehead State University.  Her most recent novel, The Motel of the Stars, was named an Editor’s Pick by The Oxford American. 

McElmurray is Assistant Professor in Creative Writing at Georgia College and State University and serves as Creative Nonfiction editor for Arts and Letters. In addition to her Berea degree, she holds an M.F. A. in fiction from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in writing from Hollins University, and a Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Georgia.  McElmurray’s story was told in the Spring 2010 issue of Berea College Magazine in an article entitled, "Karen McElmurray: Hearing What the Heart Says."