KU English professor, novelist dies / LJWorld.com

Archive for Saturday, March 15, 2003

March 15, 2003

Shortly after Carolyn Doty, Kansas University professor of English and novelist, died Thursday, former student Scott Heim recalled Doty's advice to him.

Get away from Kansas to start your writing career, Doty told Heim after he graduated in 1991 from KU.

So Heim moved to New York City, where he published two novels in the next six years.

"She let you know there was a whole other world outside the Midwest," he said.

Heim was among the writers and faculty members Friday paying tribute to Doty, who died at her home. She was 61.

Doty, who taught at KU since 1986, was known for conducting graduate courses at her house in the 1600 block of Barker Avenue. She also had English department faculty parties there.

"She loved to get the faculty together," said James Hartman, English department chairman. "She made a very strong contribution to the social life of the department."

Doty was active on campus, serving on the tenure and calendar committees. She also had been fiction director for Squaw Valley Community of Writers, a series of writing conferences in California. She gave up the position last year because of failing health.

Doty wrote four novels, "Fly Away Home," "A Day Later," "Whisper" and "What She Told Him."

"They're finely textured, and they picture people's personal lives and interactions with keen senses of how they're related to one another," Hartman said. "She had excellent control of the language."

Heim said Doty continued to write, despite not being a best-seller.

"The thing that is sad to me is that Carolyn's novels never really sold that well," he said. "But in the past five or 10 years, she was continuing to write even though the world of publishing was becoming narrower."

Tom Lorenz, associate chairman of the English department, said Doty almost always mentored five or six students with independent study projects in addition to her teaching load. Lorenz said Doty's literary connections across the country helped create career opportunities for students after graduation.

"If you wanted to get in touch with an agent, Carolyn was very helpful," Lorenz said. "She had a very wide circle of friends. Many times she would tag a promising writer and say, 'We've got to show your manuscript to this writer or that agent.'"

Funeral arrangements are pending.