Marshall Terry

MARSHALL TERRY is one of Texas' most distinguished novelists. He is a Fellow of the Texas Institute of Letters and a former president. In 1991 that organization presented him with the Lon Tinkle Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007 SMU awarded him an honorary doctorate of letters. He founded the creative writing program at Southern Methodist University and was the E.A. Lilly Distinguished Professor of English. After having taught at SMU since 1954, he retired in 2007 as professor emeritus.

His first novel, Old Liberty, published in 1961 by Viking Press and re-issued in 1991 by Texas Tech University Press, was hailed by the New York Herald Tribune as "vigorous, vital, original ... A fine first novel by a highly gifted writer." Terry's Tom Northway introduced a series of novels on the Northway family. Tom Northway was co-winner of the Texas Institute of Letters' award for the best novel of 1968, and his short story, "The Antichrist," won the 1972 short story award. My Father's Hands, Land of Hope and Glory, Angels Prostate Fall, and Tex Rex. His short stories have been collected in Dallas Stories and The Memorialist. Terry's historical account of Southern Methodist University, "From High on the Hilltop..." has just been reprinted, along with new essays by other authors, describing various aspects of the insitution's history as it approaches its centennial anniversary.