Mary Ward Brown

American short story writer and memoirist

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Mary Ward Brown

Mary Ward Brown signing one of her books

Born| Mary Ward
(1917-06-18)June 18, 1917
Hamburg, Alabama
Died| May 14, 2013(2013-05-14) (aged 95)
Occupation| Short story writer, memoirist

Mary Ward Brown (June 18, 1917 – May 14, 2013) was an American short story writer and memoirist. Her works largely feature Alabama as a setting and have received several awards.

## Early life

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Brown was born on June 18, 1917, in Hamburg, Alabama. She graduated from Judson College.[1] She had two half-brothers; one was Sheldon Fitts, who played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs football team.[2]

## Career

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Her first collection of short stories, Tongues of Flame, published in 1986, won the PEN/Hemingway (1987), the Alabama Author Award (1987), the Lillian Smith Book Award (1991), and the Hillsdale Fiction Prize (2003).[3] Following her second collection of short stories, It Wasn't All Dancing, published in 2002, Brown was awarded the Alabama Library Author Award (2003), the Hillsdale Award for Fiction (2003), and the Harper Lee Award (2002).[4]

Author Paul Theroux has said of her writing that it was "...direct, unaffected, unsentimental, and powerful for its simplicity and for its revealing the inner life of rural Alabama...".[5] Her story "Cure" was included in The Best American Short Stories 1984 (edited by John Updike & Shannon Ravenel).[6] Southern journalist John S. Sledge called Brown "our genius, our Chekov".[7]

## Books

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* Tongues of Flame (1986) New York: E.P. Dutton. ISBN 9780525244318.
* It wasn't all dancing, and other stories (2002) Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817350079.
* Fanning the spark: a memoir (2009) Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817381547.

## Death

[edit]

Brown died of pancreatic cancer in Marion, Alabama, on May 14, 2013.[8]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Dickson, Foster (May 20, 2013). "Mary Ward Brown". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Alabama Humanities Foundation. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
2. ^ Brown, Mary Ward (2009). Fanning the Spark: A Memoir. University of Alabama Press. p. 3\. ISBN 9780817316457. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
3. ^ "In Memoriam: Mary Ward Brown June 18, 1917-May 14, 2013". Alabama Writers' Forum.
4. ^ "It Wasn't All Dancing and Other Stories". University of Alabama Press.
5. ^ Paul Theroux (2015). Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-544-32353-7. Page 277.
6. ^ "The Best American Short Stories 1984 (Table of Contents)".
7. ^ John S. Sledge (15 March 2013). Southern Bound: A Gulf Coast Journalist on Books, Writers, and Literary Pilgrimages of the Heart. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-61117-236-2.
8. ^ Weber, Bruce (22 May 2013). "Mary Ward Brown, Award-Winning Short Story Writer, Dies at 95". The New York Times.

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Alabama Women's Hall of Fame

1970s

| 1971|

* Hallie Farmer
* Helen Keller
* Julia Strudwick Tutwiler

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1972|

* Agnes Ellen Harris
* Margaret Murray Washington

1973|

* Edwina Donnelly Mitchell
* Lurleen Wallace

1974|

* Henrietta Gibbs
* Loraine Bedsole Tunstall

1975|

* Dixie Bibb Graves
* Marie Bankhead Owen

1976|

* Ruth Robertson Berrey
* Annie Lola Price

1977|

* Amelia Gayle Gorgas
* Augusta Jane Evans Wilson

1978|

* Annie Rowan Forney Daugette
* Patti Ruffner Jacobs

1979|

* Myrtle Brooke
* Carrie A. Tuggle

1980s

| 1980|

* Kathleen Moore Mallory
* Ruby Pickens Tartt

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1981|

* Tallulah Bankhead
* Elizabeth Johnston

1982|

* Chrysostom Moynahan
* Loula Friend Dunn

1983|

* Anne Mathilde Bilbro
* Clara Weaver Parrish

1984|

* Mildred Westervelt Warner
* Katherine White-Spunner

1985|

* Blanche Evans Dean
* Katherine Vickery

1986|

* Chamintney Stovall Thomas
* Martha Strudwick Young

1987|

* Elizabeth C. Crosby
* Lella Warren

1988|

* Katherine Cooper Cater
* Mary Elizabeth Phillips Thompson

1989|

* Gwen Bristow
* Geneva Mercer

1990s

| 1990|

* Maud McLure Kelly
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1991|

* Frances Virginia Praytor
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1992|

* Bessie Morse Bellingrath
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1993|

* Ida Elizabeth Brandon Mathis
* Mary George Jordan Waite

1994|

* Doris Marie Bender
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1995|

* Elizabeth Burford Bashinsky
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1997|

* Hattie Hooker Wilkins
* Marion Walker Spidle

1998|

* Martha Foster Crawford
* Maria Howard Weeden

1999|

* Margaret H. Booth
* Juliet Opie Hopkins

2000s

| 2000|

* Florence Golson Bateman
* Maria Fearing

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2001|

* Ida Vines Moffett
* Sibyl Pool

2002|

* Idella Jones Childs
* Jane Lobman Katz

2003|

* Louise Branscomb
* Bess Bolden Walcott

2004|

* Nancy Batson Crews
* Rosa Gerhardt

2005|

* Vera Hall
* Juliette Hampton Morgan

2006|

* Virginia Foster Durr
* Mary Celesta Johnson Weatherly

2007|

* Fran McKee
* Martha Crystal Myers

2008|

* Rosa Parks

2009|

* Coretta Scott King

2010s

| 2010|

* Mary Ivy Burks
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2011|

* Evelyn Daniel Anderson
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2012|

Nina Miglionico

2013|

* Zora Neale Hurston
* Frances C. Roberts

2014|

* Hazel Mansell Gore

2015|

* Kathryn Tucker Windham

2016|

* Anne Mae Beddow
* Sarah Haynsworth Gayle

2017|

* Mary Ward Brown
* Sara Crews Finley

2018|

* Jessie Welch Austin
* Jeanne Friegel Berman

2019|

* Milly Francis
* Harper Lee

2020s

| 2020|

* Mother Angelica
* Janie Shores

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2021|

* Vivian Malone Jones
* Emera Frances Griffin

2022|

* Vestal Goodman
* Allison Wetherbee

2023|

* Mahala Ashley Dickerson
* Alice Finch Lee

2024|

* Janet Nolan
* Mary Olive Enslen Tinder

2025|

* Agnes Baggett
* Helen Shores Lee

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