Members of the Texas Institute of Letters have overwhelming approved seventeen writers to join the ranks of the TIL, a distinguished honor society founded in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and recognize distinctive literary achievement. The TIL’s membership consists of the state’s most respected writers – including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Academy Award, Tony Award, Americas Award, International Latino Book Award, and the MacArthur “Genius” grant. Membership is based on literary accomplishments and is granted only though an election by existing members.
Members of the Texas Institute of Letters have overwhelming approved seventeen writers to join the ranks of the TIL, a distinguished honor society founded in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and recognize distinctive literary achievement.
The TIL’s membership consists of the state’s most respected writers – including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Academy Award, Tony Award, Americas Award, International Latino Book Award, and the MacArthur “Genius” grant. Membership is based on literary accomplishments and is granted only though an election by existing members.
The 2019 honorees include three-time-Oscar-nominated screenwriter-director Wes Anderson (Houston); playwright and Broadway actor Eugene Lee (San Marcos); poets Rosa Alcalá (El Paso), Robin Davidson (Houston), and Carrie Fountain (Austin); and fiction writers Tim Z. Hernandez (El Paso), Wendell Mayo (Corpus Christi /Ohio), and Ito Romo (Laredo/San Antonio); scholars Patrick Cox (Wimberley), Betty Sue Flowers (Austin/New York) and Ellen Clarke Temple (Lufkin); non-fiction writers Wes Ferguson (Austin), John MacCormack (San Antonio); songwriter and children’s book author Tish Hinojosa (San Antonio/Austin), Documentary and Feature Filmmaker Jesús Salvador Treviño (El Paso/ Los Angeles); children’s book author Xavier Garza (Rio Grande City/ San Antonio); and theater critic/playwright Robert Faires (Austin.)
Dr. Carmen Tafolla, President of the Texas Institute of Letters states, “We are very proud of the great diversity of exceptional talents in this year’s honorees. These seventeen exemplars of literary innovation span the creative gamut from stage plays to song lyrics and from history to poetry, fiction, journalism, children’s works and filmmaking. The Institute has again picked the very finest representatives of what it means to be outstanding, productive and dynamically engaged in the advancement of the letters.”
