Dr. Jesse Graves
Dr. Jesse Graves, associate professor in East Tennessee State University's department of literature and language, is the recipient of the Fellowship of Southern Writers 2015 James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachian South.
For more than a generation, the FSW has worked to further its mission, stated on the FSW website as "commemorating outstanding literary achievement; encouraging young writers through awards, prizes and fellowships; and recognizing distinction in writing by election to membership." The roster of prizewinners includes such notable writers as Lee Smith, Ron Rash, Rita Dove and Ernest J. Gaines.
As part of his award, Graves participates in the Celebration of Southern Literature high school outreach program in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He also will offer a reading and participate in events related to the festival.
Graves' "Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine," published by Texas Review Press in 2011, has won the Appalachian Studies Association's 2012 Weatherford Award for Poetry and the Appalachian Writers Association's 2012 Book of the Year Award. Graves is also the recipient of the Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing presented by Morehead University.
Graves' newest volume of poetry, "Basin Ghosts," was published by Texas Review Press in early 2014.
