The Texas Institute of Letters is a non-profit Honor Society founded by William Harvey Vann in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and to recognize distinctive literary achievement. The TIL’s elected membership consists of the state’s most respected writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, journalism, and scholarship. Induction into the TIL is based on literary accomplishments. Application for membership is not accepted. The rules governing the selection of members and officers are contained in the TIL By-Laws. The TIL annually elects new members, gives awards to recognize outstanding literary works, and supports the Dobie Paisano Fellowship Program for writers.
The TIL offers awards to outstanding books written by Texas authors, or dealing with Texas subjects. The TIL also co-administrates the Dobie Paisano Fellowship, which awards residencies at the ranch of former TIL President J. Frank Dobie.[1]
Each year the TIL awards over $26,000 in literary prizes, including the Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Book of Fiction, the Carr P. Collins Award for Best Book of Nonfiction, the Sergio Troncoso Award for Best First Book Fiction, the Ramirez Family Award for Most Significant Scholarly Book, the Helen C. Smith Award for Best Book of Poetry, the John A. Robertson Award For Best First Book of Poetry, Jean Flynn Award for Best Young Adult Book, Deirdre Siobhan FlynnBass Award for Best Middle Grade Book, Brigid Erin Flynn Award for Best Picture Book, the Edwin "Bud" Shrake Award for Best Short Nonfiction, the Kay Cattarulla Award for Best Short Story, the Fred Whitehead Award for Design of a Trade Book (biennial), and the Soeurette Diehl Fraser Award for Best Translation of a Book (biennial).[2]
The TIL website has a complete list of all the winners from every prize category starting from 1936 to present.[3]
Prominent members include: Sarah Bird, Sandra Cisneros, Elizabeth Crook, Robert Flynn, Ben Fountain, Stephen Harrigan, Skip Hollandsworth, Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurtry, Pat Mora, Rick Riordan, Naomi Shihab Nye, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, George Saunders, Cynthia Leitich Smith, W. K. Stratton, Carmen Tafolla, Sergio Troncoso, Abraham Verghese, and Lawrence Wright.[4]
- ^ Texas Institute of Letters, by John Edward Weems, The Handbook of Texas (online), Texas State Historical Commission
- ^ Texas Institute of Letters: Literary Awards
- ^ "Listing of TIL literary winners" (PDF). Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- ^ Texas Institute of Letters: Active Members
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