Author Sheri Reynolds at UVa-Wise Nov. 11-12

Best-selling author Sheri Reynolds, whose work has been featured on the Oprah Book Club, will discuss her writing during two public events at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise Nov. 11-12.

Reynolds will read from her works during Coffee Night at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 11 and discuss her life as a writer at 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 12. Free and open to the public, both events will be held in the UVa-Wise Chapel of All Faiths.

The author of The Rapture of Canaan and Bitterroot Landing, Reynolds is recognized as “a wonderful storyteller” and “a powerful new voice among Southern writers,” and noted for her ability to create "complex and profoundly sympathetic" characters.

Writer Lee Smith called Reynolds’s 1994 debut novel, Bitterroot Landing, “an auspicious debut for a very talented writer.” The Virginia-Pilot/Ledger-Star added, “In her remarkable first novel, Sheri Reynolds tells a lyrical tale of abuse, abandonment and self-awareness . . . at once gentle and gripping . . . a tale of wrenching sorrow and spiritual renewal.” The San Francisco Chronicle Book Review gave no less recognition, “While Bitterroot Landing is a candid depiction of the acts and scars of abuse, it’s also the unsentimental story of a young woman who reconstructs her defiled youth . . . Reynolds brings a fresh look, her prose clear and distinct, to the prospect of reinventing one’s life.”

Reynolds’ gift of creating compelling and believable characters in distinct and haunting voices once again brought critical acclaim to her second novel, The Rapture of Canaan, in 1996. Celebrated on The Oprah Winfrey Show and ranked at the top of the New York Times bestseller list, The Rapture of Canaan was also noted by the New York Times Book Review: “Ms. Reynolds’ poetic gifts are uncommonly powerful. In The Rapture of Canaan, she tells a truly rapturous love story and presents two unforgettable characters: the teenage heroine and her skeptical but stalwart grandmother, from whom she learns about the acceptance of loss, the pragmatism that must underlie any abiding love, and the place in every heart where God resides, waiting to reveal himself.”

Heralded as “mesmerizing” and “a triumph of story, voice, and character,” her third novel, A Gracious Plenty, published in 1997, is another testimony to Reynolds’s brilliant and powerful imagination.

The Ruth and Perry Morgan Chair of Southern Literature at Old Dominion University, Reynolds is a graduate of Davidson College and Virginia Commonwealth University. She is the past recipient of the prestigious Outstanding Faculty Award and Rising Star Award presented by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Reynolds has just finished her first full-length play, Orabelle's Wheelbarrow, and is currently completing her fourth novel, The Firefly Cloak.

Part of the College’s 50th Anniversary celebration, Reynolds’ visit to UVa-Wise is at the invitation of the Department of Language and Literature and the Jimson Weed, the College’s literary magazine. In addition to her public presentations, Reynolds will also be a guest speaker in language and literature classes on Nov. 12.

For more information, contact the Office of College Relations at 276-328-0130.