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Books by Lee
Meitzen Grue:
Goodbye Silver, Silver Cloud In the Sweet Balance of the
Flesh French Quarter Poems
Three Poets in New Orleans * *
* * *
Local Writer Awarded $20,000
Fellowship
By Bob
Ross, Staff Writer
The Times-Picayune/The States-Item A year ago, New Orleans poet and writer Lee H. Grue sent a sample of her writing to New York to enter a
national fellowship endowment, awarded to creative writers.
Three days ago, Grue received what she thought was an
application to apply for the next year's fellowship. Instead,
she learned that she will receive $20,000 from the National
Endowment for the Arts to help boost her writing career.
Grue was one of 100 writers selected from 30 states to
receive the fellowships, which totaled $2 million. Another
Louisiana writer, Sandra B. Alcosser of Baton Rouge, also
received a fellowship.
The purpose of the award, according to the National Endowment
for the Arts, is to enable published writers of exceptional
talent to set aside time for writing, research, or travel.
The winners were chosen from more than 2,000 applicants.
"When I saw the letter in the mail, it was the same kind
of envelope that the application for the fellowship comes
in," Grue said Sunday. "I read my other mail and then
opened it up. It caught me completely off guard."
Grue was born in Plaquemine, and has lived in New Orleans
since she was 14. She graduated from the University of New
Orleans and received her masters degree in creative writing from
Warren Wilson College in North Carolina.
She is married to Capt. Reginald Grue, a river port pilot,
and has three children, raising from 14 to 19 years old.
Grue said she and her husband celebrated the news with beer
and pizza that night. She isn't sure yet what she will do with
the money, but hopes some of it can ease the burden of putting
children through college.
She also is thinking of taking a trip to Mexico, to the Mayan
ruins. "We've been there hiking before and I've often
thought it would be a wonderful setting for a poem or
story."
Grue said New Orleans plays a prominent role in her writing
and a collection of her poetry, French Quarter Poems, is being
sold around the city.
Grue said she only needs to fill out a form accepting the
award, and a check will be sent to her. News of the fellowship
already has boosted her career, she said.
"The other day I got a call from a publisher from New
York, about a collection of short stories I have. That's one
more call than I had before."
The endowment comes from an independent federal agency, which
gave $1.6 million to writers in 1984. Since it was established
in 1965, the endowment has given fellowships to hundreds of
writers. * * * * *
update 8 July 2008 |
