AWP was saddened to hear of the death of Shelby Hearon, author and beloved teacher to many. Hearon died in her home in Burlington, Vermont on December 10.

Hearon published her first novel, Armadillo in the Grass, in 1967, and that was followed by sixteen more. Her work earned her two Texas Institute of Letters Awards, a lifetime achievement award from the Texas Book Festival, as well as fiction fellowships from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Her literary papers are archived at the University of Texas Harry Ransom Research Library.

Read a profile of Hearon and her novel Ella in Bloom from the Austin Chronicle.

Photo Credit: By Shelby Hearon (Shelby Hearon) [Attribution], via Wikimedia Commons