Dorothy Allison, who has visited Mississippi State this week as writer-in-residence, leads a small group discussion with students and faculty in the Gender Studies program at Mitchell Memorial Library. Best known for her bestselling novel "Bastard Out of Carolina," Allison has spent a week on campus meeting with students. Her schedule included a public reading before a packed house in the Colvard Student Union. Her visit is a collaboration with the Department of English, Gender Studies and the College of Arts and Sciences' Institute for the Humanities, along with support from a Mississippi Humanities Council grant.