Award (1994) Robert Penn Warren Award (2001) Townsend Prize for Fiction (2016)(A Clear View of the Southern Sky) Career In 1996, she held the Grisham Chair (after John Grisham) at the University of Mississippi, Oxford. She was the first writer-in-residence at Berry College in 1997–1998, Reinhardt University in 2001 and Oxford College of Emory University in 2009. Additionally, she was the visiting writer at Centre College in Kentucky in 1999 and has taught classes at the University of Georgia. In the spring of 2010, she held the Ferrol Sams Distinguished Chair of English at Mercer University. Kennesaw State University in Georgia named her the Writer of the Decade in honor of the tenth anniversary of the Contemporary Literature and Writing Conference. Identity Mary Hood has said of Southerners on how they approach identity: Comparison and praise Mary Hood's work has been compared to that of Erskine Caldwell, Carson McCullers and Eudora Welty. The Prince of Tides author Pat Conroy proclaims: "Mary Hood is not a good writer, she is a great writer." Disambiguation Mary Hood the fiction writer should not be confused with Dr. Mary Hood, author of the Joyful Home Schooler and other books. These are two separate individuals. Hollywood Mary Hood's work has been tapped by Hollywood – with interest in How Far She Went by Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Sydney Pollack. Additionally, Peter Fonda and Jane Fonda have expressed interest in her fiction. A screenplay adaptation has been written for her novel Familiar Heat. Current projects Mary Hood is working on a novel titled The Other Side of the River. Selected works Novels Familiar Heat (Knopf, 1995) The Other Side of the River (in progress) Novellas And Venus is Blue (Ticknor & Fields, 1986) – title story from the short story collection is the novella Seam Busters: A Novella (Story River Books, 2015) Short story collections How Far She Went (University of Georgia Press, 1984) And Venus is Blue (Ticknor & Fields, 1986) A Clear View of the Southern Sky: Stories – foreword by Pat Conroy (Story River Books, 2015) Forewords, contributing chapters, published essays Rosiebelle Lee Wildcat Tennessee by Raymond Andrews – Foreword by Mary Hood (University of Georgia Press, Reprint, 1988) Why Stop? – Essay by Mary Hood (The Gettysburg Review, Winter 1988) (The Best American Essays, 1989) The Sacrilege of Alan Kent by Erskine Caldwell – Foreword by Mary Hood, Wood Engravings by