Beth Henley at Public Colloquium

Beth Henley, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter and actress, first entered the spotlight in 1978 when her play, Crimes of the Heart, won the Great American Play Contest sponsored by the Actors Theatre in Louisville Kentucky.  Crimes of the Heart went on to win numerous awards, including the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best new American Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, the daughter of an attorney and an actress, Henley has remained dedicated to preserving regional voices on the stage and screen.  In addition to the screen adaptation of Crimes of the Heart (for which Henley received an Academy Award nomination), she adapted her hit play The Miss Firecracker Contest for film and has continued to write for both film and television.

Henley’s visit caps off the 2010-2011 Creative Writing Program Reading Series. Henley will also present the 2011 awards for creative writing and English essay to undergraduate and graduate students at Emory.