Binghamton Universty alumna Bobbie Ann Mason read an excerpt from her new work “Nancy Culpepper” to a packed lecture hall Tuesday night. The event kicked off the spring semester’s Readers’ Series.
The filled classroom in the basement of Academic A welcomed Mason with eager applause after a flattering introduction by distinguished professor John Vernon. Vernon, who has taught at the University since 1971, said he was a fan of Mason’s work and has used her stories in his classes before.
“She’s a very highly respected writer,” said Vernon, who teaches fiction writing. “She’s really in a handful of those who were a part of the renaissance of the short story that occurred in the 1980s.”
“Nancy Culpepper” is a collection of linked short stories that Mason has written over the last 20 years — each story revolving around the same central character, Nancy Culpepper. Before beginning the reading, Mason, who received her master’s from BU in 1966, compared herself with Culpepper and identified her as the character whose sensibilities are most like her own.
Mason, most famous for her fiction compilation “Shiloh and Other Stories,” read the first short story of the collection to the audience of students, faculty and local fans. In the story, Culpepper who lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and child, returns to her family’s farm in Kentucky to help her parents move her grandmother into a nursing home.
After the hour-long reading, Mason stayed in the front of the room to sign books and answer questions for the long line of fans that had formed along the wall.
“I’m in a bit of a daze coming back [to Binghamton],” said Mason, who has come back three times since leaving in 1966. “Because I’m seeing it as it was in 1966 and it really was just a few buildings. The first time I came back, it was completely changed.”
Mason, with a Southern grace and modesty, also said that she was pleased with how the reading went and added that the crowd was very positive.
Christine Gelineau, associate director of the creative writing program, agreed that she thought the reading went very well.
“I was very pleased with the turnout and attentiveness,” Gelineau said. “Clearly people enjoyed the reading, because those are creaky, terrible chairs but you couldn’t here a sound.”
Before leaving, Mason said that she’s currently working on a new novel.
Tuesday night’s reading was the first to take place in Academic A, room 008, which has 120 seats and a maximum occupancy of 132 people. Gelineau said that Science I room 149, which has been home to the Readers’ Series events in recent years, was unavailable for the spring semester.
Though plans are to keep the readings for the rest of the semester in Academic A, Gelineau said that she would probably always have a backup room in case audience size continues to grow.
The next reading in the spring Readers’ Series will be by Rachel Kadish on March 4.