Author Holly Goddard Jones will be visiting Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy (CGLA) on Thursday, April 18 at 3 p.m. to discuss her novel, Girl Trouble, with CGLA’s junior class. Ms. Jones is visiting Chattanooga as part of the Southern Lit Alliance’s Celebration of Southern Literature, a three-day literary arts event featuring panel discussions, readings, and writer residencies in local schools.
Students at CGLA have been reading Jones’ book as a part of their literacy preparation for End of Course testing.
While students at CGLA have been reading Ms. Jones’ novel they are also participating in small class seminars every Friday to discuss different elements of the book. According to the state performance indicators for literacy on the End of Course (EOC) test, students must be able to identify and analyze symbols of literary passages, basic elements of plot and standard literary elements – among other requirements.
“Having students participate in seminars and discussions about Girl Trouble has allowed the girls to practice literacy strategies and enabled me to monitor their comprehension levels. We’re excited to have Ms. Jones speak to students about her novel and to be able to use her book as an example for our literacy curricula,” said Della Harrison, Language Arts teacher for CGLA.
“The writer residencies are an important extension of the Celebration of Southern Literature and help fulfill the mission of the Southern Lit Alliance by providing students and Language Arts teachers with innovative literary arts experiences, “ said Susan Robinson, executive director of Southern Lit Alliance. “We are happy to provide CGLA students the opportunity to meet one of the visiting writers and to learn more about her creative process.”
Ms. Jones, who will receive the Hillsdale Award for Fiction during the Celebration, is currently Assistant Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has published two books: Girl Trouble and The Next Time You See Me. Her books have been written about in “O Magazine”, “The Chicago Tribune” and “The Southern Review”.