The Fellowship of Southern Writers is an American literary organization that celebrates the creative vitality of Southern writing as the mirror of a distinctive and cherished regional culture. Its fellowships and awards draw attention to outstanding literary achievement and help to nurture new talent.

thumb|U.S. Poet Laureate [[Natasha Trethewey introduces a 2013 event celebrating the Fellowship of Southern Writers at the Library of Congress.]]

The fellowship was founded in 1987 in Chattanooga, Tennessee by 21 Southern writers and other literary luminaries. The group meets in every odd-numbered year, usually during the SouthWord Literature Festival hosted by the Southern Lit Alliance in Chattanooga, TN.

Charter members

  • A.R. Ammons
  • Cleanth Brooks
  • Fred Chappell
  • George Core
  • James Dickey
  • Ralph Ellison
  • Horton Foote
  • Shelby Foote
  • John Hope Franklin
  • Ernest J. Gaines
  • George Garrett
  • Blyden Jackson
  • Madison Jones
  • Andrew Nelson Lytle
  • Walker Percy
  • Reynolds Price
  • Louis D. Rubin, Jr.
  • Mary Lee Settle
  • Lewis P. Simpson
  • Elizabeth Spencer
  • William Styron
  • Walter Sullivan
  • Peter Taylor
  • Robert Penn Warren
  • Eudora Welty
  • C. Vann Woodward

Elected members

  • Wendell Berry (1990)
  • Ellen Douglas (Josephine Haxton) (1990)
  • C. Eric Lincoln (1990)
  • Romulus Linney (1990)
  • Lee Smith (1993)
  • Monroe Spears (1993)
  • Charles Wright (1993)
  • Doris Betts (1995)
  • Marsha Norman (1995)
  • James Applewhite (1997)
  • Richard Bausch (1997)
  • Clyde Edgerton (1997)
  • Gail Godwin (1997)
  • William Hoffman (1997)
  • Donald Justice (1997)
  • Dave Smith (1997)
  • Joseph Blotner (2001)
  • Allan Gurganus (2001)
  • Beth Henley (2001)
  • Josephine Humphreys (2001)
  • Bobbie Ann Mason (2001)
  • Henry Taylor (2001)
  • Madison Smartt Bell (2003)
  • Kaye Gibbons (2003)
  • Barry Hannah (2003)
  • Yusef Komunyakaa (2003)
  • Jill McCorkle (2003)
  • John Shelton Reed (2003)
  • Ellen Bryant Voigt (2003)
  • Allen Wier (2003)
  • Larry Brown (2005)
  • Percival Everett (2005)
  • Robert Morgan (2005)
  • Lewis Nordan (2005)
  • Sam Pickering (2005)
  • Wyatt Prunty (2005)
  • Dorothy Allison (2007)
  • Roy Blount, Jr. (2007)
  • Andrew Hudgins (2007)
  • Randall Kenan (2007)
  • Shannon Ravenel (2007)
  • Alfred Uhry (2007)
  • Will D. Campbell (2009)
  • Rita Dove (2009)
  • Percival Everett (2009)
  • Jim Grimsley (2009)
  • Edward P. Jones (2009)
  • Fred Hobson (2009)
  • Rodney Jones (2009)
  • Eleanor Ross Taylor (2009)
  • Natasha Trethewey (2009)
  • Al Young (2009)
  • Tony Earley (2010)
  • Claudia Emerson (2011)
  • George Singleton (2013)
  • Maurice Manning (2013)
  • Tayari Jones (2014)
  • Steve Yarbrough (2015)
  • Silas House (2017)

Awards and honors

  • The Hillsdale Prize for Fiction
  • The Hanes Prize for Poetry
  • The Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction
  • The Bryan Family Foundation Award for Drama
  • The Cecil Woods, Jr. Prize for Non-Fiction
  • The Fellowship's New Writing Award for Fiction
  • The C. Vann Woodward-John Hope Franklin Prize for the Writing of Southern History
  • The James Still Award for Writing About the Appalachian South
  • The Fellowship's New Award for Poetry
  • The Cleanth Brooks Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Southern Letters

See also

  • American Literature
  • Southern literature
  • Southern United States

References

  • The Fellowship of Southern Writers official website
  • Arts & Education Council website
  • Oral History Interview with Blyden Jackson from Oral Histories of the American South