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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 7, 1993                   TAG: 9304070315
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BIG STONE GAP                                LENGTH: Short

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JOHN FOX JR. FESTIVAL AT MOUNTAIN EMPIRE

The 17th annual John Fox Jr. Festival will start at 10 a.m. April 15 with author Jill McCorkle as the main speaker.

McCorkle is the author of four novels, "The Cheer Leader," "July 7th," "Tending to Virginia" and "Ferris Beach," as well as short fiction. She teaches creative writing at Harvard University.

Also on the program is a performance by David Browning, executive director of Lonesome Pine Arts and Crafts, of "A Visit with John Fox Jr."

Fox is the author of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine," a novel about a romance between a mountain girl and an engineer coming to the region at the start of its coal boom. An adaptation is performed in Big Stone Gap each summer as an outdoor drama.

Festival activities will be in the Dalton-Cantrell Auditorium at Mountain Empire Community College. The event is sponsored by the Mountain Empire Community College Foundation. Further information is available from Jamie Buckles at 523-2400, extension 266. - Southwest bureau

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