Please join the Department of English for the Elaine Neil Orr fiction reading.

Orr was born and grew up among the forests and rivers of Southwestern Nigeria. After settling in North Carolina as a literature professor, she turned to creative writing. She first published a memoir, Gods of Noonday, followed by two novels: Swimming Between Worlds, a finalist for the 2019 Phillip H. McMath Post-Publication Book Award in fiction, and A Different Sun. Dancing Woman is her third novel.

Orr has received numerous prizes and awards, including the 2023 John Ehle Prize and the 2021 Denny C. Plattner Award in Creative Writing. She is a professor of English at NC State University. She also serves on the faculty at the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing. She lives in Raleigh with her husband, Andy, and their beloved pup, Sam.