The Chattanooga State Humanities Department is proud to announce the first annual installment of its “Writers@Work” series, featuring Terry Kay, author of To Dance with the White Dog, April 9-13, 2012.

A 2009 recipient of the Governor's Award in the Humanities, and a 2006 inductee into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, Terry Kay has been a sports writer and film/theater reviewer, a public relations executive, and a corporate officer. He is the author of twelve published works of adult fiction, including the recently released collection of short stories, The Greats of Cuttercane. His books have been published in more than twenty foreign languages, with To Dance with the White Dog selling two million copies in Japan. An essayist and regional Emmy-winning screenwriter as well as a novelist, Kay's work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. Kay has received the Georgia Author of the Year award three times and in 2004 was presented with the Townsend Prize, considered the state's top literary award. A native of Hart County, GA, Kay and his wife now reside in Athens, GA.

As perhaps Kay’s best-known novel, To Dance with the White Dog (published in 1990 by Washington Square Press) tells the story of a recently widowed older man who is visited by a mysterious white dog. In 1993, To Dance with the White Dog was made into a film of the same name starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Set early in the 1970s, the novel explores love, aging, family relationships, death, grief, regret, and the ways in which everyday, ordinary people learn to cope with their lives. For Terry Kay, To Dance with the White Dog was a labor of love, a story that draws heavily on the life and character of his own father.

Terry Kay is the inaugural author of the new “Writers@Work” series, an initiative of the Chattanooga State Humanities Department to advance the practices of teaching English at Chattanooga State and to focus on quality instruction for students enrolled in the College’s Composition II course. Nearly 2,000 students enrolled in Composition II during the Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 semesters have engaged in activities focused on Terry Kay’s novel. Classroom discussions, literary analysis papers, and other activities have been designed to assist students in practicing the principles of literary analysis and in developing their skills in writing, research, critical thinking, and analysis.

During Kay’s weeklong visit in April, students from the entire campus community will have opportunities to hear the author discuss his novel and the craft of writing in large group settings as well as within individual class settings. In addition, Chattanooga State will sponsor book signings, a showing of the film based on Kay’s bestselling novel, and workshops and Q&A sessions with the author. Three community events will be held as part of this year’s “Writers@Work” activities on the Chattanooga State main campus on Amnicola Highway. These events are free of charge and open to the public.

Tuesday evening, April 10, 2012 at 6 p.m., C.C. Bond Humanities Auditorium

Film showing of To Dance with the White Dog

Book Signing/Dessert Reception with author Terry Kay

Wednesday afternoon, April 11, 2012 from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m., Health Science Center, Rm. 1087 “The DNA of Writing,” a writing workshop with Terry Kay

Thursday evening, April 12, 2012 at 7:00 p.m., Humanities Auditorium

“An Overview of the Writing Life,” a lecture by Terry Kay

Book Signing/Dessert Reception with author Terry Kay

For more information about Terry Kay, please visit www.terrykay.com, and for more information about the Chattanooga State Humanities Department’s “Writers@Work” series, please visit “Chatt State’s Writers at Work” on Facebook.

For information about Chattanooga State Community College and its educational programs, call the Chattanooga State information hotline at 423.697.4404 or toll free at 1.866.547.3733. Information is available at on the Chattanooga State website at www.chattanoogastate.edu, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ChattState?ref=ts, and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/ChattStateCC.

Chattanooga State Community College is a comprehensive, regionally accredited community college, governed by the policies and guidelines as set forth by the Tennessee Board of Regents. Chattanooga State’s mission is to transform the lives of individuals and to develop the capacities of the business and industrial communities through technical and postsecondary education. Founded in 1965, the college serves a six-county area in Southeast Tennessee and offers more than 50 educational programs.