Mark Richard awarded second annual Hobson Prize
Franklin native, author of several booiis, honored for
^‘Distinguished Achievement in Arts and Letters”
ARK RICHARD, a nath e of
Franklin. Va., was hnoredon
Monday, April 23, when he
became the 1996 recipient of the
prestigious Mar>- Frances Hobson Prize for
Distinguished Achievement in Arts and Letters
during the second annual Hobson Lecture
series at Chowan College.
The Hobson Prize for Distinguished Achieve
ment in the Arts and Letters was initiated by the
Hobson Family Foundation of San Francisco,
Calif, to recognize the outstanding achieve
ments of a person in the field of arts and letters
and as a memorial to journalist and poet Mary
Frances Hobson
She was connected to Chowan College
through her aunt, Lois Vann Wynn, a member of
the Class of 1905 and who sen ed as a faculty
member from 1908 to 1915.
Charles Hobson 111. son of the namesake
from San Francisco, made brief addresses at the
conferral dinner and again at the lecture held in
the amphitheater of Robert Marks Hall.
He thanked Chowan for sponsoring the
evening and said. “It is a great personal
pleasure to have Mark Richard receive this
award.”
Dr, James M. Chamblee. chair of the depart
ment of fine arts and also chair of the Hobson
Prize Nominating Committee, introduced Richard
as the 1996 recipient.
AfiFirmation of the prize was given by
Richard’s friend, Ann Jervey, chair of the Ruth
Camp Memorial Library Board of Directors in
Franklin, W
“Mark belongs to us,” Jervey said, “and he is
very special. I am in awe of his talent and his
way with words.”
Following her remarks, Hobson and Dr.
Herman E. Collier Jr., president of the college,
bestowed the monetary prize and medallion
upon Richard.
The medallion bears Richard’s name along
with a likeness of Mrs. Hobson on one side and
a view of the McDowell Columns building on
the other.
After the conferral dinner, Richard delivered
the Mary Frances Hobson Lecture in Robert
Marks Hall before an overflow audience.
Dr. G. Kenneth Wolfskill, chair of the depart
ment of languages and literatiu-e, introduced the
author at the lecture program, and said, “It
seems to me that Mark Richard is a serious
talent. He is already a significant voice.”
Richard responded by saying, “I’ve
received some other rewards but this one
means the most.” He spoke about his recent
meeting with 17 other southern writers in
Chapel Hill whose collective works are
published in New Stories from the South, an
anthology.
He said the media did many inter\ iews and
one of the questions often posed was about
getting story ideas.
Richard said that part of the brain never
sleeps and that the same part of the brain is
responsible for our dreams.
Richard, the son of Mrs. Claire Richard, is
a graduate of Franklin (Va.) High School and
brother-in-law of Virginia Governor George
Allen.
While a student at Washington and Lee
University'. Richard took a break in his college
studies and went to sea. For three years, he
worked on ocean-going traw lers, coastal
steamers and fishing boats from Cuba to
Nova Scotia. After returning to Washington
and Lee. Richard earned a journalism degree
in 1980. His seafaring experiences proved a
treasure trove of background for his well-
received first novel, Fishboy.
His first collection of short stories, The Ice
at the Bottom of the World, received the PEN/
Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award in 1990
for “best first book of fiction.”
Richard has also received the Whiting
Foundation Writers’ Award, a National
Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a
New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship.
His short stories have appeared in Esquire,
The New Yorker, Harper's. Grand Street,
Antaeus, The Quarterly, Shenandoah,
Equator, and have been widely anthologized,
including Best American Short Stories, The
Pushcart Prize Stories and New Stories from
the South.
In 1994, Richard was named the first
Tennessee Williams Fellow at the University
of the South, Sewanee. Last year, Richard was
named Visiting Southern Writer in Residence
at the University of Mississippi through an
endowment from John and Renee Grisham.
His journalism has appeared in Spin,
George, Vogue, and The Oxford American,
i
and he is a correspondent for BBC Radio.
Richard has just completed a second collec
tion of short stories and is at work on his
second novel. Bahyhead.
The first recipient of the Hobson Prize w as
Kaye Gibbons, a Nash County (NC) nati\ c « ho
has authored several critically acclaimed works.
Charles Hobson III,
right, presents the
medallion to
Richard during the
conferral dinner
Richard said
he had
received
other
awards, but
“this one
means the
most.”
The 1996 Hobson
Prize recipient posed
with family and
friends prior to the
conferral dinner
Seated are, left to
right: f^rs. Claire
Richard and l\Aiss
Maggie Vaughan,
both of Franldin, Va.
Standing, left to ri^t,
Charles Hobson III of
San Francisco, Calif.;
Julie Flournoy, sister
of Mark Richard from
Richmond, Va.; Mark
Richard and his wife,
Jennifer, of Los
Angeles, Calif.
Several faculty members
gain promotions, tenure
Several members of the faculty have
been granted promotions by the Board
of Trustees upon the recommendations
of the Promotion and Taiure Commit
tee, the vice president for academic
aflfairs and president of the college.
Promoted to the rank of professor
were Dr. John Davis and Carol Sexton.
Dr. Brenda Gordon was promoted to
the rank of associate professor and
Renee Felts and Linda Hassell were
promoted to the rank of assistant pro
fessor.
Dr. Charles Bentley and Dr. Brenda
Gordon were granted tenure.
CHOWAN TODAY, June 1996 — Page 7