The Columbus State University Press has named novelist Ellen Birkett Morris as the winner of its 2023 Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence. The award is made based on her most recent fiction manuscript, “Beware the Tall Grass,” which is scheduled for publication in March 2024.

The Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence seeks to uplift works that uphold human values, such as trust, generosity, love, gratitude or responsibility. In keeping with those values, “Beware the Tall Grass” explores the power of love and mercy with grace and artful sensitivity in a world where circumstances often occur far beyond our control. 

The novel weaves the stories of the Sloans, a modern family struggling with their young son Charlie’s troubling memories of a past life as a soldier in Vietnam, and Thomas Boone, a young man caught up in the drama of mid-60s America who is sent to Vietnam. Eve Sloan struggles as a mother to make sense of Charlie’s increasing references to war, and her attempts to get to the bottom of Charlie’s past life memories threaten her marriage, while Thomas struggles with loss and first love, before being thrust into combat and learning what matters most. 

Morris’ previous works include the novel “Lost Girls: Short Stories” (winner of the 2021 Pencraft Award for short stories) and the poetry chapbooks “Surrender” and “Abide.” Her fiction has appeared in “Shenandoah,” “Antioch Review,” “Notre Dame Review” and “South Carolina Review,” among other journals. She is a recipient of an Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council, and her essays have appeared in “Newsweek,” AARP’s “The Ethel,” “Oh Reader” magazine, and on National Public Radio. Morris holds a master of fine arts degree from Queens University-Charlotte and lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

In addition to Morris, 2023 finalists included authors Lucy Ferriss, Susan Finch, James Janko, Zhaojin Ke and Maureen Stanton.