**This section is available to Lanier Village Estates residents only** Six IN-PERSON sessions September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21 What does it mean to be a Southerner today? Who are some writers who articulate this identity? This course will focus on short fiction, some poetry, and some excerpts from novels and memoirs written in the last 50 years. Southern writers have moved in different directions from the iconic Southern writers such as William Faulkner and Eudora Welty. Today’s male and female authors come from all ethnic backgrounds and sub-regions of the South, including some from the “Rough South.” Writers to be considered are Bobbie Ann Mason, Harry Crews, Ron Rash, Cormac McCarthy, Larry Brown, Wendell Berry, Jesmyn Ward, and Barbara Kingsolver. All reading materials will be furnished for those who enroll. After 37 years of teaching composition, American literature, and women's studies to young adults at Pensacola Junior College, Karen Sirmans truly enjoys teaching mature adults, whose years of lived experience give them insight that makes class discussions of literature lively and meaningful. This venture into contemporary Southern literature will be Karen’s fifth BULLI class.