Elizabeth Spencer was named of the winner of the Rea Award for short fiction. The award, which comes with a $30,000 cash prize, is considered one of the most prestigious honors for authors of short stories.
Spencer, now 92 years old, has taught creative writing at the University of Mississippi, Concordia University in Montreal, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the author of eight short story collections and nine novels. Spencer first novel, Fire in the Morning was published in 1948. Her most recent short story collection is Starting Over (Liveright, 2014).
Spencer was the valedictorian of her high school class and went on the graduate from what is now Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi . She earned a master’s degree at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.