James Jones Literary Society

The James Jones Literary Society is an association that honors American author James Jones by sponsoring a number of literature awards.

History

The Society was founded in 1991 at Lincoln Trail College, Robinson, Illinois. As of 2008, it had nearly 300 members from 34 states and 5 countries. The Society sponsors a national symposium every year, when the First Novel Fellowship is awarded; these are held in different locations, but return every third year to Robinson, Jones's home town.[1]

First Novel Fellowship

The Society's best known award is the Annual James Jones First Novel Fellowship, co-sponsored by Wilkes University. It was established in 1992, and as of 2011 is a $10,000 prize, and two $750 runner up awards, awarded to American authors of first novels in progress that honor "the spirit of unblinking honesty, determination, and insight into modern culture" that Jones's works exemplified. 667 entries were received for the 2011 contest.[2][3][4]

Laine Cunningham, winner of the 2003 award for her novel Message Stick, credits the award for US and international agents beginning to call her. She has since sponsored her own writing award.[5]

Awards
Year Author Work Published Notes
2013 Margot Singer The Art of Fugue $10,000, 666 entries.[6]
2012 Lise Brody For One Thing She Did $10,000, 585 entries.[7]
2011 Robert Shuster To Zenzi $10,000, 667 entries.[8]
2010 Gina Ventre Moon's Extra Mile $10,000, 520 entries.[9]
2009 Tena Russ After Paradise $10,000, 674 entries.[10]
2008 Margarite Landry Blue Moon $10,000. 520 entries.[11]
2007 Robin Oliveira My Name is Mary Sutter Viking Press, 2010, ISBN 0-670-02167-9 Working title The Last Beautiful Day.[12]
2006 Herta Feely The Trials of Serra Blue [13]
2005 Anne Campisi The Lime Tree $10,000.[14]
2004 John Smelcer The Trap 593 entries.[15] Award rescinded in 2015.[16][17]
2003 Laine Cunningham Message Stick Sun Dogs Creations, 2008, ISBN 978-0-9822399-0-2 $6,000.[5][18]
2002 Linda Busby Parker Seven Laurels Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-9724304-7-0 [19]
2001 Ray Cristina Tracking Ginger CreateSpace, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4499-8701-5 $5,000.[20]
2000 Steven Phillip Policoff Beautiful Somewhere Else Carroll & Graf, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7867-1321-9 $5,000. 566 entries.[21][22]
1999 Louise Wareham Leonard Since You Ask Akashic Books, 2004, ISBN 978-1-888451-63-4 $3,000.[23][24]
1998 Judith Barnes A Year in the Woods $2,500. 470 entries.[25]
1997 Leslie Schwartz Jumping the Green Simon & Schuster, 1999, ISBN 978-0-684-85589-9 [26]
1996 Greg Hrbek The Hindenburg Crashes Nightly William Morrow, 1999, ISBN 978-0-380-97741-3 $2,500.[27][28]
1995 Rick Bass Where the Sea Used To Be Houghton Mifflin, 1998, ISBN 978-0-395-77015-3 $2,500, also awarded to Tanuja Desai Hidier.[29]
1995 Tanuja Desai Hidier Tale of a Two-Hearted Tiger $2,500, also awarded to Rick Bass.[29][30]
1994 Mary Kay Zuravleff The Frequency of Souls Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1996, ISBN 978-0-374-15851-4 403 entries.[31][32]
1993 Nancy Flynn Eden Undone $2,000, 143 entries.[33][34][31]

Other awards

Since 2006, the Society has co-sponsored the annual Illinois Emerging Writers Competition, created in 2005 by Secretary of State of Illinois and State Librarian Jesse White. Originally this consisted solely of the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award, but since the co-sponsorship of the Society, it has also included the James Jones Short Story Award. Each category carries prizes of $500, $300, and $100 for unpublished works. Both are named after Illinois writers.[35][36]

Since 2007, the Society has been working to establish the James Jones Chair in World War II Studies at Eastern Illinois University.[37][38]

The Society sponsors an annual Valentine Essay Contest, based on Jones's short story, "The Valentine", for high school seniors from Crawford County, Illinois and Clark County, Illinois. The $75 and $50 prizes are awarded on Valentine's Day.[39][40][41][42]

References
  1. "English Dept. Will Host Aficionados of WWII-era Novelist James Jones Oct. 7-9", University of Memphis, Sept. 27, 2005.
  2. "James Jones Fellowship Contest", Wilkes University. Retrieved Nov 15, 2011.
  3. "Fellowship Guidelines" Archived 2012-04-15 at the Wayback Machine, official site. Retrieved Nov 15, 2011.
  4. "James Jones Society Names Wilkes University Faculty Member Its New President" Archived 2012-04-06 at the Wayback Machine, Wilkes University, 12/8/2009.
  5. "Pittsboro writer wins third place in literary magazine writing contest", Chatham Journal, July 11, 2010.
  6. "James Jones Fellowship Contest", Wilkes University, retrieved 2012-09-19.
  7. "Shakespearean witch inspires 1st novel winner" Archived 2013-09-21 at the Wayback Machine, JJLS Journal, Volume 18, Issue 2, Fall 2012.
  8. "First prize greets novelist’s debut", by Richard Duckett, Telegram & Gazette, October 11, 2011.
  9. "Names and Faces" Archived 2010-10-18 at the Wayback Machine, Times Leader, October 14, 2010.
  10. "James Jones First Novel Fellowship Awarded by Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing Program, James Jones Society" Archived 2012-04-06 at the Wayback Machine, Wilkes University, 10/20/2009. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  11. "Landry’s ‘Blue Moon’ is shining", Telegram & Gazette, October 23, 2008.
  12. "Reading Guide: My Name is Mary Sutter" Archived 2011-11-27 at the Wayback Machine, Penguin Group USA. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
  13. "Herta Feely named recipient of Jones First Novel Fellowship Archived 2012-04-15 at the Wayback Machine, James Jones Literary Society Newsletter, Vol. 15, No. 2, Summer 2006. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  14. "Anne Campisi Wins First Novel Fellowship On Her Third Try" Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, James Jones Literary Society Newsletter, Vol. 14, No. 2, Summer 2005. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  15. "First Novel Fellowship Award Committee" Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, James Jones Literary Society Newsletter, Vol. 13, No. 4, Fall 2004. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  16. Smith, Rich (August 30, 2017). "Meet John Smelcer, Native American Literature's "Living Con Job"". The Stranger. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  17. Flood, Alison (30 August 2017). "John Smelcer dropped from YA award amid 'concerns' over integrity". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  18. "Cunningham Wins Fellowship", News & Record, October 26, 2003, page R6.
  19. "Novel Published by SEMO Press Garnering Awards", Southeast Missourian, January 24, 2005, p8A.
  20. "Prospect resident captures fellowship", Times Leader, December 10, 2001, page 6A.
  21. "An Interview with Stephen Policoff, Author of Beautiful Somewhere Else", by Tim Davis, Feb 10, 2005. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  22. "Writing Teacher Wins 2000 James Jones First Novel Fellowship" Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, James Jones Literary Society Newsletter, Vol. 10, Nos. 1 & 2, Fall 2000/Winter 2001. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  23. "Wareham Leonard, Louise" Archived 2010-05-23 at the Wayback Machine, New Zealand Book Council. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  24. "7th Annual First Novel Award Presented to Louise Wareham" Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, James Jones Literary Society Newsletter, Vol. 9, No. 2, Winter 1999-2000. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  25. "Judith Barnes Receives 1998 James Jones First Novel Fellowship" Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, James Jones Literary Society. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  26. "Reviews for Jumping the Green", Leslie Schwartz official site. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  27. "Fiction Review: The Hindenburg Crashes Nightly", 06/28/1999, Publishers Weekly
  28. "Vassar Instructor Receives 1996 First Novel Award" Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, James Jones Literary Society Newsletter, Vol. 6, No. 2, Winter 1996. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  29. "Carl Sandburg Awards Bestowed On 4 Local Writers", by John Blades, Chicago Tribune, November 06, 1995.
  30. "Letter to the Society from Tanuja Desai Hidier, Winner of the 1995 JJLS First Novel Fellowship", James Jones Literary Society Newsletter, Vol. 11, No. 3, Summer, 2002. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  31. "Manuscripts Pour In For Second Year Of Fellowship Award" Archived 2012-04-15 at the Wayback Machine, James Jones Literary Society Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 1 Fall 1994. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  32. "M.K. Zuravleff's racy read captures crowd" Archived 2012-04-15 at the Wayback Machine, by Sandhira Wijayaratne, The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, February 21, 2009.
  33. "Awards", Nancy Flynn official web site, retrieved 2011-11-15.
  34. "Duty Bound: James Jones First Novel Winner Drawn to 'Eternity'", by John Blades, Chicago Tribune, Oct 28, 1993, page 9.
  35. "Illinois Emerging Writers Competition" Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine, Illinois Center for the Book, official site. Retrieved Nov 15, 2011.
  36. "Jesse White Announces 2010 Illinois Emerging Writers Competition", Secretary of State of Illinois Jesse White, press release, March 29, 2010.
  37. "EIU to establish World War II studies chair", Herald & Review, June 4, 2007.
  38. "James Jones Literary Society embraces EIU" Archived 2012-07-29 at Archive.today, by Katey Mitchell, The Daily Eastern News, September 20, 2007.
  39. "Area High School Students Win James Jones Literary Society Essay Contest" Archived 2012-04-01 at the Wayback Machine, James Jones Literary Society web site. Retrieved Nov 15, 2011.
  40. "Banned Valentine", by C. D. Stelzer, Illinois Times, February 20, 2008.
  41. "Jones essay winners named", by Randy Harrison, Daily News, 4/18/2011.
  42. "Illinois students excel in James Jones essay contest", Tribune-Star, March 10, 2010.
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