Author: jjlsociety

Each year, the James Jones Literary Society sponsors a contest for seniors at eastern Illinois high schools in the area where Jones grew up and later co-founded the Handy Writers Colony. The essays are responses to James Jones’s short story “The Valentine,” which was first published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1963 and was… Continue reading 2023 Valentine winners selected

From Oxford Magazine, Oxford, Mississippi Reinventing Willie Aug 16, 2022 | Columns, Features, Jim Dees By: Jim Dees Reinventing Willie Oxford is known as a retirement destination but it’s also a place for those of any age to rebound from a crisis, tie up messy loose ends or reinvent yourself. Perhaps no one practiced this art better than the… Continue reading On the Reinvention of Willie Morris

Love, Daddy: Letters from My Father examines the complexities of father-and-son relationships through letters and photographs. Willie Morris wrote scores of letters to his only son, David Rae Morris, from the mid-1970s until Willie’s death in 1999. From David Rae’s perspective, his father was often emotionally disconnected and lived a peculiar lifestyle, often staying out carousing… Continue reading David Rae Morris reflects on father Willie in new book with forward by Kaylie Jones

The 31th Annual James Jones First Novel Fellowship has awarded first place and $10,000 to Beenish Ahmed of Detroit, MI. for her novel titled Every Song an Elegy. Ahmed was selected from 584 entries in the competition co-sponsored by the James Jones Literary Society and the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes… Continue reading 2022 James Jones Fellow named

Congratulations to Erin Kate Ryan, the 2017 winner of the James Jones First Novel Fellowship, on the publication of her debut novel, Quantum Girl Theory (Random House 2022). The novel has been named by CrimeReads as "One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2022." The novel pivots on Mary Garrett, who has a gift for… Continue reading Debut novel from 2017 JJ Fellow