Back to Carolina

The papers of poet and fiction writer Dorothy Allison have joined those of such celebrated Southern writers as William Styron ’47, Hon. ’68; Anne Tyler ’61; and Richard Bausch in the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture, part of the university’s Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library.

Out author: Allison in her mid-twenties, 1973. Credit: Dorothy Allison Papers

Allison, a native of South Carolina, is the author of numerous books and short stories. Her first novel, Bastard Out of Carolina, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her second novel, Cavedweller, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, won the Lambda Literary Award for fiction, and was a finalist for the Lillian Smith Prize.

Allison’s papers, which fill some sixty boxes of materials, include drafts of Bastard Out of Carolina, extensive correspondence and research files, personal journals documenting her life and creative process, and notes on her activism in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. The collection is now available to researchers.