Fred Chappell
Last fall when Fred Chappell received the John Tyler Caldwell Award for the Humanities*, the state’s most prestigious humanities honor, he was described as a “man of letters.” He might decry that title, but his masterful versatility in writing more than two dozen books of poetry, fiction and criticism confirms that designation.
Fred came to UNCG in 1964 to teach and establish the university’s prestigious MFA Writing Program. He remained for 40 years, inspiring two generations of students, and along the way received the O. Max Gardner Award, UNC’s highest teaching honor.
Following the success of several novels, Fred turned to poetry. As he wrote in Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series, “I could begin to think directly about the most important intellectual and artistic endeavor in the world: the composition of poetry.” Whatever the genre, a critic has noted “Chappell, in his work as a whole, examines dreams, fears and the particular beauties of his native North Carolina with a country kid’s instinct for what’s before him, and a metaphysician’s squint at what lies far beyond such beautiful harshness.”
Other honors include Yale University Library’s Bollingen Prize in poetry, and awards from the National Academy of Arts and Letters and the Academie Française.
*From the N.C. Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.