What Makes a Wake Woman? Connection (Bonus Episode)
About this episode
This episode explores the theme of connection through the influence of Dr. Edwin Graves Wilson on his students.
This is the first of four special guest tribute episodes closing out the Wake Women podcast, which will air its series finale on August 28th. Each tribute explores a single question: What makes a Wake Woman? This episode’s answer is Connection — the idea that some people are shaped so deeply by a place, a mentor, or a moment that they carry it with them for the rest of their lives. At the center of this episode is one of Wake Forest’s most beloved figures: Dr. Edwin Graves Wilson, English professor, university provost, and poet, whose influence on generations of students was nothing short of transformative. We hear his own voice in an archival recording, reading John Keats’ “To Autumn” aloud — the way so many of his students remember him doing in class. Three Wake Forest women bring that connection to life. Laura Malone Elliott ’79— bestselling historical novelist writing as L.M. Elliott — describes the moment she knew Wake Forest was her place, and the discipleship that began in Dr. Wilson’s classroom and never really ended. Emily Giffin ’94 — #1 New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed and ten other novels — recalls being told by a family friend before she ever…
More episodes of Wake Women
- Poetry, Ancestors, and Sacred Ground with Jacinta White
- Women in History for America's 250 with Laura Elliott '79
- Business For Good with Catherine Mitchell Jaxon ‘98 and Hope Skouras ‘12
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