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Key local figure

Daphne Athas

Daphne Athas taught creative writing at UNC from 1968 until 2009 and is best known for her 1971 novel Entering Ephesus, set in Carrboro and Chapel Hill during World War II, which Time named one of the year's top ten novels.

Source: UNC Department of English and Comparative Literature: Remembering Daphne Athas

1923–2020 · Dates from the Library of Congress · On the Friends’ Local Authors roster → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

6 works about Daphne Athas are indexed here, as are 3 works by Athas. 1 held at OCPL →

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 5 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Daphne Athas's family moves to Chapel Hill Athas came to Chapel Hill as a teenager in 1938 with her Greek family, who during the Depression traded a large Massachusetts home for a small house on Merritt Mill Road. She spent most of the rest of her life in Orange County. Place: Merritt Mill Road, Chapel HillSearch the index · INDY Week: Daphne Athas' memoir of 70 years in Chapel Hill and Carrboro
  2. Daphne Athas graduates from UNC Athas graduated from the university in 1943 after studying writing with Betty Smith and Phillips Russell. People: Betty Smith, Phillips Russell Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Carolina Story: Daphne Athas (Carolina's Literary History)
  3. Daphne Athas teaches creative writing at UNC Athas taught creative writing at UNC from 1968 until she retired from teaching in 2009. In the 1970s she took over the stylistics course Glossolalia, known for its annual student performances, and her students included Randall Kenan, Michael Parker and Sarah Dessen. People: Randall Kenan Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Michael Parker, Sarah DessenSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Daphne Athas Papers, 1970s-2000s (#70101), finding aid
  4. Daphne Athas publishes Entering Ephesus, a novel set in Carrboro and Chapel Hill Her coming-of-age novel, set in Carrboro and Chapel Hill during World War II among intellectuals, poor southerners and Greek immigrants, was named one of the ten best novels of the year by Time magazine. Place: Carrboro and Chapel HillSearch the index · UNC Department of English and Comparative Literature: Remembering Daphne Athas · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, September 30, 1971, p. 2
  5. Daphne Athas dies in Chapel Hill Athas died in Chapel Hill on July 28, 2020. She had long lived in Carrboro in a small cabin she built with friends and into her late 80s was a familiar sight biking across town. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Literary Hub: Remembering Daphne Athas: Writer, Reader, Teacher, Mentor, Adventurer, Friend

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Daphne Athas, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Indexed works

Works about or by Daphne Athas. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

By Daphne Athas

Chapel Hill in Plain Sight

Athas, Daphne · 2010 · Eno Publishers

Twelve essays by novelist Daphne Athas (1923-2020) on the Chapel Hill she knew across the twentieth century. Subjects include Carrboro as 'the Paris of the Piedmont', philosopher Horace Williams, Betty Smith writing in Chapel Hill, Junius Scales, Ab Abernethy and the Intimate Bookshop, Richard Wright's visit, and a set of Chapel Hill murders. Published 2010, 243 pages with illustrations.

Daphne Athas papers, 1970s-2000s

Athas, Daphne, 1923-2020 · 1974

Papers of the writer Daphne Athas (1923-2020) spanning the 1970s to the 2000s, in the University Archives at UNC, collection 70101. The papers concern Athas's writing and her faculty work in the Department of English and Creative Writing Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

UNC

About Daphne Athas

North Carolina Literary Festival records, 1995-2009

North Carolina Literary Festival · 1995

Festival records of the North Carolina Literary Festival from 1995 to 2009, approximately 5,850 items in 7.5 linear feet, University Archives collection 40272 at UNC. Subjects include writers including Doris Betts, Clyde Edgerton, Randall Kenan, Allan Gurganus and Fred Chappell, the Carolina African American Writers' Collective, and the Center for the Study of the American South, with the festival set in Chapel Hill.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Athas, Daphne, 1923-2020.

UNC

Max Steele papers, 1693-2004.

Steele, Max, 1922-2005 · 1693

The writer Max Steele (1922-2005) left papers with material dating from 1693 to 2004, about 13,500 items in 28.5 linear feet, part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 4314. The papers concern the English department, creative writing program and writer in residence program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with material on Doris Betts, Daphne Athas, Jill McCorkle and Randall Kenan.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Athas, Daphne, 1923-2020.

UNC

Athas, Daphne: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

Novelist Daphne Athas posed by a bookshelf, an undated photograph in the Artists binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.

Included because: Its title names this person.

Athas, Daphne: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

Daphne Athas, the novelist and longtime writing teacher at the University of North Carolina, posed with pen and paper in an undated portrait from the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.

Included because: Its title names this person.

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