February 13, 2006

Columbus State Universitys Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians has received separate, anonymous gifts of $100,000 and $50,000 to establish the Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship Endowment.

Named in honor of the parents of Carson McCullers, the endowment will provide fellowships to gifted emerging, or mid-career writers and composers who will reside in McCullers childhood home in Columbus while they pursue their creative work.

The first fellowship will be awarded to a writer who will reside during fall 2006 in a spacious private apartment in the Smith-McCullers House and receive a stipend to assist with transportation and other expenses. The individual will give at least one public presentation of his or her work during the residency.

CSU English professor and McCullers center director Cathy Fussell said the writers fellowship is inspired by McCullers experiences at the Breadloaf Writers Conference in Vermont and the Yaddo Arts Colony in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The latter location, said Fussell, is where McCullers wrote much of her work.

Subsequent fellowships will include composers in honor of the importance of music to McCullers writing, Fussell added.

The establishment of the Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship Endowment is a giant step toward achieving the mission of CSUs Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians, said Fussell.

The goal for the center is to support two semester-long fellowships during the academic year and three short-term fellowships of three weeks duration each during the summer term.

For more information, contact Fussell at 706-568-2054 or send e-mail to fussell_cathy@ColumbusState.edu.

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