Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Selection
Academic Year: 
2010
Mudbound

The book will be provided to all incoming freshmen at Appalachian and Jordan will speak to members of the campus community and others during Convocation Sept. 16 in the Holmes Center on campus.

"Appalachian's Summer Reading Program provides an important common experience for entering freshmen, helps develop a sense of community with their new environment and introduces them to the academic rigor of college," said Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock in announcing the selection.

"'Mudbound' is one of those rare stories that speaks across generations addressing issues both current and timeless," said English Professor Emory Maiden, chair of the Summer Reading committee.

"The Summer Reading Committee found the work to be a rare combination of telling prose and fine insights into the human condition," he said. "Hillary Jordan writes with both precision and considerable energy about a watershed time, a place and people undergoing tremendous changes that are fading quickly from our national consciousness. Set in the Mississippi delta circa 1946, her story involves people coping with old questions of class, race, gender and ethnicity under new conditions brought on by the closing of yet another world war."

Mudbound quote: "Everything's fine. I just gave Ronsel here a lift from town."Jordan grew up in Dallas, Texas, and Muskogee, Okla. She received a BA in English and political science from Wellesley College and spent 15 years working as an advertising copywriter before starting to write fiction. She received an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University.

"Mudbound" was published by Algonquin Books in March 2008. It won the 2006 Bellwether Prize for Fiction, awarded biennially to an unpublished debut novel that addresses issues of social justice, and was the 2008 NAIBA (New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association) Fiction Book of the Year. It won a 2009 ALA Alex Award from the American Library Association and has been longlisted for the 2010 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

"Ms. Jordan writes from within each of the major characters, individualizing them both in thought and speech patterns: no mean feat since they differ in fundamental ways despite common strengths and frailties," Maiden said. "It is to Jordan's credit that she sustains and encourages our interest in each of the characters so that we want to know them better. Their actions elicit both sympathy for lives that do not work out as planned and recognition of the unintended consequences of misapprehension and narcissism."

Since 1997, incoming freshmen at Appalachian have been asked to read a book as part of their orientation to Appalachian. Previous selections include "Three Cups of Tea," "The Glass Castle," "Freakonomics" and "A Home on the Field."

About the Author
Hillary Jordan

Hillary Jordan grew up in Dallas, Texas and Muskogee, Oklahoma. She received her BA in English and Political Science from Wellesley College and spent fifteen years working as an advertising copywriter before starting to write fiction. She got her MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University.

Mudbound, published by Algonquin Books in March 2008, is her first novel. It won the 2006 Bellwether Prize for Fiction, awarded biennially to an unpublished debut novel that addresses issues of social justice, and was the 2008 NAIBA (New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Assoc.) Fiction Book of the Year. It won a 2009 Alex Award from the American Library Association and was longlisted for the 2009 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Paste Magazine named Mudbound one of the top ten debut novels of the decade.

Hillary lives in Tivoli, New York but will soon be moving back to NYC.

Supplemental Materials
AttachmentSize
PDF icon Discussion Questions123.12 KB
Events

September 16, 2010

  • Convocation, Holmes Center, 10:00AM (view video of Author's Convocation speech)
  • Panel discussion and Q&A, Blue Ridge Ballroom, 2:00 PM
  • Visiting Writers Series reading and book-signing, Blue Ridge Ballroom, Plemmons Student Union, 7:30 pm

September 17, 2010

  • Reading and book signing, Watauga County Public Library, 10:30 AM


Feeling Mudbound? Upcoming Events from the Summer Reading Program, ACT, and Multicultural Student Development

  • BIG Sale Saturday August 21, 2010 8am-2pm at Legends
  • Brother Towns Film Fall Semester 2010
  • ACTs of Service Series Various projects throughout the semester at local agencies that serve people in poverty (via ACTs of Service). Check out act.appstate.edu/actsofservice for more information!
  • Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week November 14-20, 2010
  • Hunger Banquet Monday November 15, 2010 5-8pm in the Blue Ridge Ballroom
  • The MLK Challenge Monday January 17, 2011 9am-6pm at Legends
  • Alternative Fall Break Thursday October 21-Sunday October 24 Location to be determined
  • International Alternative Spring Break Registration Lottery Night: Monday November 15 at 9pm in Linville Falls Room in the Plemmons Student Union. Many IASB courses encounter poverty on the global level and incorporate the issue into class discussions. Visit the ASB website for 1-credit hour courses being offered in Spring 2011 and come to the IASB Lottery to secure your space!
  • Domestic Alternative Spring Break Registration Lottery Night: Sunday January 23 at 7pm in the Blue Ridge Ballroom in the Plemmons Student Union. Many ASB trips work directly with agencies that address issues of hunger and poverty.

Visit the ASB website for more information!