2015-2016 James and Mary Oswald
Distinguished Writers Series
Department of English – University of South Carolina Aiken
David Joy
Tuesday, February 16th, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. • Main Stage, Etherredge Center
Please join us as David Joy reads from his acclaimed new novel Where
All the Light Tends to Go, a book that the New York Times Book Review calls,
“Remarkable... This isn’t your ordinary coming-of-age novel, but with his
bone-cutting insights into these men and the region that bred them, Joy
makes it an extraordinarily intimate experience.”
David Joy is the author of the novels Where All Light Tends To Go (Putnam
2015), The Weight Of This World (Putnam 2017), and The Line That Held Us
(Putnam TBD), as well as the memoir Growing Gills: A Fly Fisherman’s Journey
(Bright Mountain Books 2011).
Joy is the recipient of an artist fellowship from the North Carolina Arts
Council. His writing has appeared in numerous magazines and journals, and
has been nominated for awards such as the Pushcart Prize. His latest short
stories and essays have appeared in The Good Men Project, Still: The Journal,
and The Pisgah Review.
“At the heart of darkness rests David Joy’s accomplished debut... This beautiful, brutal
book begins with Jacob despairing he’s ‘let what [he] was born into control what [he’d]
become,’ a realization that circumstances and love eventually force him to defy.”—
Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Readers of Southern grit lit in the tradition of Daniel Woodrell and Harry Crews will
enjoy this fast-paced debut thriller...[and fans] of Ron Rash’s novels will appreciate the
intricate plot and Joy’s establishment of a strong sense of place in his depiction of rural
Appalachia.” —Library Journal
“David Joy has written a savage and moving account of a young man’s attempt to
transcend his family’s legacy of violence. Where All Light Tends to Go is an outstanding
debut and a fine addition to the country noir vein of Southern Literature.”
— Ron Rash, PEN/Faulkner Finalist and New York Times-bestselling author of Serena
For more information on the series, please call the USC Aiken English Department at 803-641-3498.
In 1985, thanks to the support of Dr. Robert Alexander, Chancellor Emeritus,
the Department of English established an annual visiting writers’ series. In 1995,
this series was renamed the James and Mary Oswald Distinguished Writers Series
in honor of two longtime Aiken residents who created an endowment to enhance
departmental initiatives to promote general interest in the English language and
its literatures.
Department of English
web.usca.edu • 471 University Parkway, Aiken, SC