"If writing is a gift, then Connie May Fowler must have been bestowed with the gifts of ten muses."~Amy Tan
Connie May Fowler is a bestselling, award-winning author of eight highly acclaimed books. Her novels include How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly, The Problem with Murmur Lee, Remembering Blue (recipient of the Chautauqua South Literary Award), Before Women had Wings (recipient of the 1996 Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Francis Buck Award from the League of American Pen Women), River of Hidden Dreams (recipient of a Florida Individual Artist Grant), and Sugar Cage. Her first memoir, When Katie Wakes, explores domestic violence and its generational echoes. Her second memoir, A Million Fragile Bones, was a finalist for the 2018 Clara Johnson Award in Women’s Literature.
Three of her novels have been Dublin International Literary Award nominees. She adapted Before Women had Wings for Oprah Winfrey. The result was an Emmy-winning film.
Her essays have been published in The New York Times, London Times, International Herald Tribune, Japan Times, The Sun Magazine, Oxford American, Best Life, and elsewhere.
Connie has written extensively about the environment, family violence, multiculturalism, poverty, women’s issues, and sumo wrestling. Much of her fiction contains elements of magical realism and offers historical, sociological, and environmental perspectives of the American South. Her essays and stories have been widely anthologized in the United States and abroad.
From 1997-2003 she directed the Connie May Fowler Women Wings Foundation, an organization that was dedicated to aiding women and children in need. From 2003-2007 she served as the Irving Bacheller Professor of Creative Writing at Rollins College and directed their award-winning visiting author series Winter With the Writers. She is the founder of Below Sea Level: Full Immersion Workshops for Serious Writers, The St. Augustine Writers Conference, The Yucatan Writing Conference, InkBlossom, A Global Community of Writers, and directs the Vermont College of Fine Arts Novel Retreat where she is a core faculty member in their MFA in Writing program.
She lives with her husband, three dogs, and a cat in a Florida jungle.
UPCOMING:
The Direction of Last Things is Connie’s latest work-in-progress. Sign-up for her newsletter to stay informed about the novel’s latest developments. Here is the opening paragraph (look fast because it can change thanks to Connie’s penchant for revision!):
