What do acclaimed author Lee Smith ’67 and poet Liana Camper-Barry ’09 have in common, in addition to being Hollins-educated writers?

Smith, whose eleven novels include Fair and Tender Ladies and the New York Times bestseller The Last Girls, and Camper-Barry, who writes under her first and middle names (“Liana Quill”), are among the youngest Hollins alumnae to have book-length manuscripts published. Harper & Row published Smith’s The Last Day the Dog Bushes Bloomed in 1968; Camper-Barry has been named a winner of the first Mississippi Review Poetry Series contest, and her poetry collection, Fifty Poems, is one of three books selected for publication in January 2010.

Camper-Barry competed against poets from across the country for the award, which also includes a $1,000 cash prize.

"I am so happy for Liana I am beside myself, and this is a big honor for our undergraduate program as well," said Hollins Professor of English R.H.W. Dillard.

In addition, fifteen poems from the book will be published in the next issue of Blackbird, an online journal of literature and the arts.

The Mississippi Review is posted quarterly online and in print twice a year. Published by The Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi, it is among the oldest and most popular literary magazines on the Web. More information is available at www.mississippireview.com.