Lee's Woolfitt Wins Literary Contest

  • Friday, February 14, 2014
  • Britain Miethe, Lee University
Dr. William Woolfitt
Dr. William Woolfitt

Dr. William Woolfitt, assistant professor of English at Lee University, has won the 2013 Texas Review Breakthrough Poetry Prize for his collection of poetry, “Beauty Strip.” 

“Beauty Strip” focuses on the landscapes and living things of Appalachia, protests the industrialization that results in ruin, and celebrates the human ability to remake, redeem, and find shelter and homes.

“I'd say that the structure of ‘Beauty Strip’ is part sketchbook, part dreambook,” said Dr. Woolfitt. “It maps and ruminates on, haunts and is haunted by, the mountaintop removal sites and mill towns, the salt-works and bloomeries, that have scarred the land from West Virginia to Virginia to Tennessee.” 

Dr. Woolfitt joined Lee’s Department of Language and Literature in fall 2012, where he teaches creative writing and American literature. He is the author of two chapbooks, “The Salvager’s Arts,” co-winner of the Keystone Prize, and “The Boy with Fire in His Mouth,” winner of the Epiphany Editions contest.

Dr. Woolfitt’s poems and stories appear in such publications as Shenandoah, Michigan Quarterly Review, Threepenny Review, New Ohio Review, Appalachian Heritage, The Cincinnati Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Ninth Letter, River Styx, Virginia Quarterly Review’s Instapoetry Series, and Tin House’s Flash Friday series. Recently, Woolfitt also took runner-up in the 2013 Gold Line Press Fiction Chapbook Competition.

The Texas Review Press publishes between 20 and 23 titles a year, including the winners of four international competitions and an annual Southern poetry anthology, making it one of the most productive literary presses in the Southwest. 

For more information on the Texas Review Press, please visit http://www.shsu.edu/~www_trp/index.html.

Student Scene
Lee Day 2024 To Begin April 5
  • 3/28/2024

On Friday, April 5, and Saturday April 6, Lee University will host Lee Day, a time of excitement and information geared toward prospective students and their families. Over the course of the ... more

Chattanooga State Takes A Quantum Leap With Expert Insights Into The Future Of Computing
  • 3/27/2024

Chattanooga State Community College will take a deep dive into the world of quantum computing alongside physics and computer science expert Dr. Shohini Ghose. Dr. Ghose will join ChattState ... more

TDOE Releases 2022-23 Report Card
  • 3/26/2024

The Tennessee Department of Education released the 2022-23 State Report Card, highlighting new interactive features for families and users to learn more on how districts and schools are performing ... more