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Contact:
Tom Davis
Troy Office of University Relations
334/670-3196
tomdavis@troy.edu
Office of University Relations
253 Adams Administration
Troy, AL 36082
(334) 670-3196
(334) 670-3274 (fax)
| TSU
honors Pulitzer prize-winning author Shirley Ann Grau |
| More
than 250 Troy State University students learned about the craft
of writing from one of the South’s most celebrated authors
Thursday afternoon. Shirley Ann Grau was in Troy to receive the first Hall-Waters Southern Prize, awarded for significant contributions to Southern heritage and culture in history, literature or the arts. She was presented the award by TSU Provost Fred Davis and Dr. Wade Hall, a TSU alumnus, writer and former chairman of the English Department at Bellarmine College. Dr. Hall funded the prize in honor of his family. "I am deeply honored to receive this award and I am pleased to visit Troy State University," said Grau, who won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for her novel, "The Keepers of the House." Following the presentation of the award, Grau discussed her career and offered several tips on writing to the students. A native of New Orleans and a former resident of Montgomery, Grau said that writing "Keepers of the House" not only led to her Pulitzer Prize, but also made her a target of animosity in her hometown. The novel dealt with the then-controversial issue of interracial marriage. "Several men tried to burn a cross on my lawn," she said. "But they weren’t very bright and they couldn’t get the cross to stand up, so they laid it down flat in the yard and lit it. My neighbor put it out with his kitchen fire extinguisher." Grau said that writers are "creatures of the time they live in" and so it was natural that her novel would create controversy in the Civil Rights-Era South. "But a writer has to take chances," she said. "Segregation was so egregiously wrong that it had to be written about." She said winning the Pulitzer Prize caught her off guard "I thought the call from the Pulitzer committee was a practical joke; I hung up on them," Grau said. "An hour later my publisher called me back and said it wasn’t a joke, after he stopped laughing. Grau is the author of three collections of short stories, including "the Black Prince and Other Stories" published in 1955. She has written seven novels. Her most recent novel was "The Condor Passes," published in 2000. She has also contributed stories and articles to publications such as Atlantic, New Yorker, Redbook and Mademoiselle. |