APSU’s Charles Booth wins Tennessee Arts Commission fellowship in literature

Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) director of communications this week won one of three Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowships in Literature.

Charles Booth – who helps to lead the University’s public relations and marketing efforts – won the 2021 Tennessee Arts Commission Fellow in Fiction.

“I am honored to be in the company of people I respect and admire,” Booth told the Tennessee Arts Commission.

Booth won the honor for artistic excellence in fiction, specifically for his short stories. The fellowship comes with a $5,000 cash prize.

“Barry Kitterman, who received this award in 2001, told me about this grant and encouraged me to apply,” Booth said. “I’m so appreciative of him, and all the Languages and Literature writing faculty, for being such champions of Clarksville writers. As a community, we’re extremely fortunate to have them.”

Booth has won several awards for his short stories including first place in the 2017 Alligator Juniper National Fiction Contest and second place in the 2014 Playboy College Fiction Contest. His fiction has appeared in appeared in The Greensboro Review, The Minnesota Review, The Southampton Review, The Pinch, Alligator Juniper, storySouth and Pithead Chapel.

He told the Tennessee Arts Commission that he hopes to use the prize money to publish a book of his short stories.

The other fellowship winners are Jessica Miller in children’s/young adult literature and Corrie L. White in poetry.

You can read more about the contest and its winners by clicking here.

For more about the APSU Department of Languages and Literature, visit www.apsu.edu/langlit.

For more about Austin Peay State University Public Relations and Marketing, go to www.apsu.edu/pr-marketing.