By Josh O'Leary | Iowa Now
As the book world remembers Truman Capote on what would have been his 100th birthday Sept. 30, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop remains an important steward of his legacy through a partnership with the Truman Capote Literary Trust.
A novelist, short story writer, and playwright, Capote rose to fame with his 1948 book Other Voices, Other Rooms and his 1958 novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s, then ushered in the New Journalism movement with the 1965 bestseller In Cold Blood. Capote has remained a captivating cultural icon ever since. His life has been the subject of film and television, and his books remain an essential part of the American literary canon.
Before Capote’s death in 1984, the acclaimed author took steps to ensure that even when he was gone, his influence in literature would continue. Capote included a provision in his will to support new generations of writers and establish an annual award for literary criticism.
In 1994, following the death of Capote’s longtime partner Jack Dunphy, Capote’s estate established a literary trust to manage the rights and royalties from his books. Alan Schwartz, the executor of Capote’s will, knew former Iowa Writers’ Workshop director Frank Conroy and the UI’s reputation as the best school for creative writing in the U.S.
The Iowa Writers’ Workshop became home to what Capote had envisioned as the Pulitzer Prize of literary criticism. Today, the $30,000 Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism in Memory of Newton Arvin—selected by a panel of judges and presented annually in a ceremony in Iowa City—is the largest prize of its kind for English-language literary criticism. The award honors Arvin, a book critic and close friend of Capote.
Additionally, each year the UI selects six recipients of a Capote fellowship in creative writing and awards a Capote scholarship in honor of Frank Conroy. Recent Capote fellows and scholars include celebrated authors like Justin Torres (10MFA), Kiley Reid (19MFA), Jamil Jan Kochai (19MFA), Jamel Brinkley (15MFA), and Maria Kuznetsova (17MFA).
Over the past three decades, the Capote Trust has provided the Iowa Writers’ Workshop with $4.3 million to fund the prize, fellowships, and scholarships. Nationally, the trust has granted universities a combined $12.5 million to support creative writing students.
Novelist Maggie Shipstead (08MFA) came to Iowa as a Capote fellow in 2006-07 after studying as an undergraduate at Harvard under current Iowa Writers’ Workshop director Lan Samantha Chang (93MFA). Shipstead calls her fellowship “an amazing gift” because it provided her with the resources—and confidence—to fully focus on her writing.
“I felt so honored and encouraged to be given that fellowship—and to be given that extra time that came with it,” says Shipstead, the author of four books, including the 2021 Booker Prize finalist Great Circle. “It felt like a green light or a positive sign that I really needed at that time.”
Joel Worford, who is entering his second year in the workshop this fall, says his Capote fellowship has been “creatively life-changing.” Worford this past year has written more than 40,000 words of what he hopes will become his first short-story collection.
“The support has given me room to experiment and be free in my work,” says the Richmond, Virginia, native. “I’m doing much better work here by being able to follow what interests me in a place that says, ‘We value what you do, and we’ll give you the financial support to do it.’”