Hollins University Professor of English R.H.W. Dillard has been named the 2007 winner of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP)/George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature.
The award, given annually to a living individual who has demonstrated exceptional generosity to writers, recognizes Dillard for his many decades of extraordinary work to support contemporary literature and its makers.
“In Richard’s career as editor, program-builder, community-sustainer, mentor, critic, life-changing teacher, top-notch writer, and idea-guy, he’s helped countless writers, directly or behind the scenes,” said Jeanne Larsen, professor of English at Hollins and chair of the university’s MFA program in creative writing. “He has transformed a program, helped start others, edited journals, nourished writers’ groups, written critical pieces that lifted up neglected writers, and sent four decades’ worth of writing teachers out across the country to do work that keeps our art alive.”
Dillard has taught at Hollins since 1964 and was named Virginia Professor of the Year in 1987. Other accolades include the O.B. Hardison, Jr., Poetry Prize from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Fellowship of Southern Writers (which also presented him the Hanes Prize for Poetry) and the Virginia Writers Club. He is the author of six volumes of poetry, two novels, and a collection of short fiction.
The AWP will officially present the award to Dillard at their annual conference on March 1 in Atlanta.
- From News at Hollins, Hollins University. |
