Winners of the 2025 Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing are (from left) Jamie Quatro, for fiction; Boyce Upholt, nonfiction; and Devreaux Baker, poetry. The authors will be featured April 4 during a session of the Oxford Conference for the Book and at a book signing event afterward.
Devreaux Baker, Jamie Quatro, and Boyce Upholt honored for writing that ‘evokes the South’
Three writers whose work reflect the spirit of the late Willie Morris are being honored as winners of this year’s Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing, housed at the University of Mississippi.
“The Willie Morris Awards are an increasingly revered part of the Southern literary landscape,” said David Crews, an Oxford author and nonfiction judge for the competition. “This year’s awards recognize fine writers for the resonance, texture and power of their works.
“Willie would be delighted to know that we are nurturing Southern literature and writers with an award carrying his name.”
This year’s winners are:
- Fiction – Jamie Quatro, author of “Two-Step Devil” (Grove Atlantic)
- Nonfiction – Boyce Upholt, for “The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi” (W.W. Norton and Co.)
- Poetry – Devreaux Baker, for “Blue Requiem.”
The winners will be featured April 4 during a session of the Oxford Conference for the Book. The session, scheduled for 4:30 pm at Off Square Books, will be followed by a book signing and party to close out the conference.
Quatro, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is also the author of the short story collection “I Want to Show You More” (Grove Press, 2013) and the novel “Fire Sermon” (Grove Press, 2018).
“I am deeply honored by this award, and to have my novel associated with Willie Morris’ important legacy as a writer, teacher and editor who was unafraid to speak out against social, economic and racial injustices in the American South,” she said. “The award feels particularly meaningful at this moment in our country’s history, with government funding for a myriad of nonprofit organizations under threat.
“The prize will enable me not only to continue my work as a writer, but also to support those who are fighting to ensure the continued viability of the arts, literacy and freedom of expression in America.”
De’Shawn Charles Winslow, a former Willie Morris awards winner and fiction judge for the competition, praised Quatro’s work.
“With the wholly original and undeniably southern ‘Two-Step Devil,’ Jamie Quatro has once again proven herself to be a highly observant writer who cares about characters – people, really – we don’t encounter in novels very often,” he said. “Quatro’s prophet, Michael and the devil will take up space in your mind for a long time.”
Upholt, a Connecticut native who lives in New Orleans, is a writer and nature critic whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, National Geographic, Oxford American, and Virginia Quarterly Review. He also has won a James Beard Award for investigative journalism.
“Though I didn’t grow up in the South, its rich traditions of literature and placemaking – and the ongoing work of grappling with the past – have shaped not just my voice, but my understanding of my place in the more-than-human world,” he said.
Ralph Eubanks, an author and faculty fellow at the university’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, said Upton’s book helps readers see the Mississippi River in a whole new way.
“In reading this book, I was reminded of a scene in Willie Morris’s ‘North Toward Home,’ when Willie crosses what he describes as ‘the great bridge’ from Vicksburg into Louisiana on his way to the University of Texas in 1952,” said Eubanks, one of the nonfiction judges.
“Willie saw that bridge as embodying greatness only because of the river that flowed beneath it. If he were here, Willie would be thrilled that a book all about that great river is being awarded a prize in his name.”
Baker is the author of several poetry collections, including “Hungry Ghosts,” “Red Willow People,” “Out of the Bones of Earth,” “Beyond the Circumstance of Sight” and “Light at the Edge.” She is the first poet laureate of Mendocino County, California, and has taught poetry and creative writing in many venues, including public schools.
“For me, the power of poetry lies in its ability to not only inspire with imagery but to also act as a bridge of communication between the poet and the reader,” she said. “I think this is the magic and the mystery of poetry, that it allows readers to bring their own life experience to a poem and make it their own.
“In this way, a poem transcends the poet and can belong to the world.”
Susan Kinsolving, an award-winning poet and poetry judge for the awards, said Baker’s winning entry is a perfect example of a requiem, or musical remembrance.
“Poet Devreaux Baker’s contemplation of the blues and its artists is beautifully achieved in her poem ‘Blue Requiem,'” she said “Her readers are reminded of history and the many voices in its chorus.”
Tupelo artist Ke Francis is creating a limited-edition broadside of the poem. Baker will sign copies during the April 4 book signing session.
The UM Department of Writing and Rhetoric has operated the awards program since 2020. It honors the contributions and writing of Morris, former editor-in-chief of Harper’s Magazine and a longtime instructor and writer-in-residence at Ole Miss.
An endowment from Dave and Reba White Williams, of Connecticut, supports the program.
“We remain grateful to Mr. Dave Williams, and we celebrate the creativity of the late Reba White Williams,” said Stephen Monroe, the department’s chair. “The world lost Reba this year, but her vision continues to inspire our director, Susan Nicholas, me and the many people involved in making the Willie Morris Awards so successful.”
