Robert Penn Warren Circle attracts nationally-known scholars

Clarksville, TN – Robert Penn Warren is the only writer to date with three Pulitzer Prizes, two in poetry and one in fiction. In 1980, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter, and in 1986, Warren was named the first Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by the Library of Congress.

His senior year was spent at Clarksville High School prior to his attending Vanderbilt University. Although he had been appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy, he was unable to enter school there because during the summer, his brother had tossed either a stone or piece of coal that landed in Robert Penn’s eye; this eventually resulted in blindness and the removal of his left eye. While at Vanderbilt, Warren became a member of a writers’ group known as The Fugitives and the rest is history. [Read more]

Robert Penn Warren and the High School Connection

Clarksville, TN – Ask the average college-bound high school student who Robert Penn Warren is and you might hear that the student has no idea that he was a writer.

Most probably the student wouldn’t be able to tell you that Warren was a graduate of Clarksville High School in 1921 or that he was born in Guthrie, Kentucky.

Even fewer would know that he is uniquely the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes, one for fiction and two for poetry; no other Pulitzer Prize winner can claim this accolade. [Read more]