"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 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, and most recently, InkBlossom, A Global Community of Writers. She is Professor Emeritus at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Her most recent creative endeavor, in addition of her novel-in-progress, is Coco May Studios, her newly launched jewelry design boutique.

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. Subscribe to Connie May Fowler and Other Tall Tales to stay informed about the novel’s latest developments and much more. Here is the opening paragraph (look fast because it can change thanks to Connie’s penchant for revision!):

Some of the crew enjoying dinner at InkBlossom’s Vermont Novel Retreat and Conference in Stowe.

You can always find me at Connie May Fowler and Other Tall Tales

This is a love project—ruminations, readings, tips, interviews, and so much more! And don’t miss a single episode of Bedtime Stories with Connie May Fowler!