Thomas Wolfe Prize and Lecture
Department of English
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The Thomas Wolfe Prize and Lecture honor the memory of one of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's most famous alumni, Thomas Clayton Wolfe (Class of 1920). Established in 1999 with an endowed gift to the Department of English, the program recognizes contemporary writers with distinguished bodies of work. And in doing so, the program seeks to give University students and the surrounding community the opportunity to hear important writers of their time.
The Department of English bestows this prize each fall, around the time of Wolfe's October 3 birthday. In addition to receiving an honorarium and The Thom
as Wolfe Prize medal, the honored writer comes to campus as the University's guest and delivers a lecture, which is free and open to the public. This event is a well-attended major campus and community occasion.
Previous recipients of The Thomas Wolfe Prize are: Reynolds Price, 2007 (A Generous Man, The Surface of Earth, Blue Calhoun, The Good Priest's Son, and A Whole New Life); George Garrett, 2006 (Death of the Fox, Do, Lord, Remember Me);Fred Chappell, 2005 (Midquest, I Am One of You Forever); Ellen Gilchrist, 2004 (In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, Victory Over Japan, Ellen Gilchrist: Collected Stories); Pat Conroy, 2003 (Prince of Tides, The Lords of Discipline, The Great Santini, Beach Music); Elizabeth Spencer, 2002 (The Voice at the Backdoor, The Light in the Piazza and Other Stories, The Salt Line, Landscapes of the Heart: A Memoir); Larry Brown, 2001 (Joe, Fay, Dirty Work, Facing the Music: Stories, Big Bad Love: Stories); and Tom Wolfe, 2000 (The Right Stuff, Bonfire of the Vanities, A Man in Full, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test).
Thomas Wolfe is best known for his novel Look Homeward, Angel, which was published to rave reviews in 1929. Before his death in 1938, Wolfe also published Of Time and the River (1935). His novels The Web and the Rock (1939) and You Can't Go Home Again (1940) were published posthumously. Wolfe's writings reflect a largeness of spirit and an expansive vision of life, while anchored in geographic place.
Sponsors of the prize and lecture are The Morgan Writer-in-Residence Program and The Department of English.