Jump to main content

Neal Cross Series

The Neal Cross Lecture Series was established through a bequest from Neal Cross, a Professor in the Department of English from 1941 until 1979. The fund is used to sponsor visits by guest lecturers, writers-in-residence, and other cultural events.

The Neal Cross Lecture Series has included a number of well-known scholars, writers, filmmakers, and activists, including the following:

  • Isabel Allende
  • Margaret Atwood
  • Houston Baker
  • James Baldwin
  • Barbara Christian
  • Mary Daly
  • Mary Ann Doane
  • Harlan Ellison
  • Carolyn Forché
  • Gerald Graff
  • Donna Haraway
  • E. Ann Kaplan
  • Maxine Hong Kingston
  • Annette Kolodny
  • Mario Vargas Llosa
  • Rigoberta Menchu
  • Trinh T. Minh-ha
  • Tim O’Brien
  • Sharon Olds
  • Chris Paine
  • Judith Roof
  • Bienvenido Santos
  • Gary Snyder
  • Terry Tempest Williams

Upcoming Neal Cross Events

Professional cosplayers, Ginni Di and Caitlin Postal, will be on campus on March 29. They will be wearing attire based on George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones series and will discuss the cosplaying phenomenon from 7:00pm to 9:00pm in the Panorama Room of the UC.

Recent Neal Cross Lectures

March 2015: Dr. Kristin Bluemel, "Imagining Rural Modernity: An Artist, a Farmer, and a Theory."

March 2015: Dr. Tanya Agathocleous, "From Mimicry to Parody: Genres of Critique in the Colonial Public Sphere."

October 2013: Dr. Joseph Michael Sommers, "When Heroism and Villainy became Indistinguishable in Comics and Graphic Novels"

April 2013: Dr. Dana M. Oswald, "Unmastered Mothers: Medieval Maternal Bodies as Monstrous"


Program areas in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences may apply for funds to bring speakers to UNC’s campus. For information and application materials, please contact Lisa Zimmerman.

For information about upcoming events, contact the Department of English at (970) 351-2707.