Join Patti Callahan Henry on Friday at 4pm at the Monroe County Museum for the distinguished Harper Lee Award.
Friday, March 6, 2020
4:00pm – 5:00pm
Harper Lee Award Winner
Patti Callahan Henry
Monroe County Museum
Where: Old Courthouse Museum
31 North Alabama Avenue
Monroeville, AL 36460
Congratulate all three recipients at the Alabama Literary Awards Dinner Reception on Friday at 6pm at the Vanity Fair Golf and Tennis Club.
This event is ticketed and is hosted by the Monroeville/Monroe County Chamber of Commerce.
Current Schedule
Ticket information below
Note: This schedule is subject to change before or during the Monroeville Literary Festival. The schedule will be updated as necessary at www.MonroevilleLiteraryFestival.com and at the Monroeville Literary Festival Facebook page. Read More
Alabama Writers Awards
The presentations of the Alabama Writers Awards is a highlight of the Monroeville Literary Festival. The recipient of the Harper Lee Award (named after the author of the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird) is selected through a process coordinated by the Alabama Writers’ Forum, a statewide literary arts organization funded by the Alabama State Council on the Arts. The recipient of the Eugene Current- Garcia Award is selected by the Association of College Teachers of Alabama (ACETA), a diverse organization representing faculty at all of Alabama’s two-year, four-year, and doctoral institutions. Both awards are funded by the generous sponsorship of Mr. George F. Landegger. The Truman Capote Prize for Alabama's Distinguished Writer of Literary Non-Fiction or the Short Story is awarded by a selection committee chaired by Dr. Don Noble of Tuscaloosa. This award is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Ms. Dianne Lawson Baker. Read More
"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to READ. One does not love BREATHING." — Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
The Harper Lee Award
For Alabama's Distinguished Writer
The Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer is awarded each year at the Monroeville Literary Festival, hosted by Coastal Alabama Community College in Monroeville. The annual award recognizes the lifetime achievement of a writer who was born in Alabama or whose literary career developed in the state. The recipient is selected through a process coordinated by the Alabama Writers’ Forum, a statewide literary arts organization founded in appreciation of Alabama’s strong literary heritage with a commitment to its continuation.
2020 Winner Patti Callahan Henry
About Patti
A New York Times bestselling author of fifteen novels including the critically-acclaimed historical novel, Becoming Mrs. Lewis – The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis, Patti Callahan Henry is also a USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and the Globe and Mail bestseller. Henry hosts the popular seven-part original "Behind the Scenes of Becoming Mrs. Lewis Podcast Series" launched in October 2019. She is also the recipient of The Christy Award — A 2019 Winner "Best Book of the Year."
Henry’s novels include Losing the Moon; Where the River Runs; When Light Breaks; Between the Tides; The Art of Keeping Secrets; Driftwood Summer; The Perfect Love Song: A Holiday Story; Coming Up for Air; And Then I Found You; The Stories We Tell; The Idea of Love, The Bookshop at Water’s End, Becoming Mrs. Lewis (written as Patty Callahan), and The Favorite Daughter. In March of 2021, a new historical fiction novel based on the true story of the Steamship Pulaski wreck will be released.
Other awards for her fiction include a finalist in the Townsend Prize for Fiction, an Indie Next Pick, an OKRA pick, and a multiple nominee for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Novel of the Year. Her work has been published in numerous languages, and her articles and essays have appeared in Southern Living, PINK, Writer’s Digest, Garden and Gun, Portico Magazine, Love Magazine (UK), Red Magazine (UK), Atlanta Journal, Birmingham Magazine, and more. Her essays can also be found in anthologies and collections such as Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy; Southern Writers Writing, and State of the Heart. Read More
The Eugene Current-Garcia Award For Alabama's Distinguished Literary Scholar
The Eugene Current-Garcia Award for Alabama's Distinguished Literary Scholar is selected annually by the Association of College English Teachers of Alabama. It is awarded to notable scholars with Alabama roots, or who have made significant contributions to the study of the literary arts in Alabama. It is named in memory of the founding editor of the Southern Humanities Review, Eugene Current-Garcia.
2020 Winner Robert Evans
The Truman Capote Prize For Distinguished Work in the Short Story or Literary Non-Fiction
2020 Winner Charles Gaines
Ticket Information
VIP Comprehensive Festival Ticket
Monroeville, AL · Mar 5, 2020 5:30 PM
Free Sessions Only
Monroeville, AL · Mar 6, 2020 9:00 AM
Individual Event Ticket Purchases
Can't join us for the full Monroeville Literary Festival, but still want to join in the fun?
Please contact our partner organizations below to purchase individual tickets to individual events:
The Monroeville/Monroe County Chamber of Commerce's Alabama Literary Awards Reception ($30), Friday, March 6
Call the Chamber of Commerce at 251.743.2879.
Old Courthouse Picnic ($20) featuring food from Emily Blejwas's The Story of Alabama in Fourteen Foods, Saturday, March 7
Call the Monroe County Museum at 251.575.7433.
Monroeville Main Street's Last Call with Jo Smith Party ($15), Saturday, March 7.
Call Monroeville Main Street at 251.575.1457.
Monroeville Literary Festival
2800 S Alabama Ave
Monroeville, AL 36460
A Project of Coastal Alabama Community College