English Professor Wins Prestigious Kappel Prize in Literary Criticism

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Heather White, English professor in The University of Alabama’s College of Arts and Sciences, has won the Andrew J. Kappel Prize in Literary Criticism for her essay “Elizabeth Bishop’s Calling.”

Twentieth-Century Literature, a journal of literary criticism, awards the prize annually to the author of a work submitted to the journal during the preceding year that is judged to make the most impressive contribution to the study of 20th century literature.

The editor of TCL and members of the editorial board choose nominees, and a different prominent literary critic serves each year as judge. This prize includes publication in the summer issue of TCL and a $500 award.

White received the award for her work about acclaimed poet Elizabeth Bishop, who died in 1979. Bishop received virtually every poetry prize in the country, was a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a poetry consultant to the Library of Congress in 1949-50.

This year’s judge was Dr. Jonathan Culler, an English professor from Cornell University, whose encomium about White’s essay also will appear in the issue.

“I’m very pleased with the choice,” said Lee Zimmerman, TCL editor. “I’ve done some work on Bishop, and [White’s] is the best piece I’ve read on her in quite some time.”

Bishop received her master’s and doctorate from Cornell University, where she wrote her dissertation on modern American poetry, “Dazzling Clarity: Figures of Style in Marianne Moore, Willa Cather, and Elizabeth Bishop.” White currently is working on an essay about the contemporary dramatic monologue.