About

CONNIE MAY FOWLER is an award-winning novelist, memoirist, screenwriter, and teacher. Her most recent book, A Million Fragile Bones, is a memoir that details her experience during the Gulf oil spill and explores the close ties between place, spirituality, family, and environmental devastation. It will be published in April 20, 2017 by Twisted Road Publications. Her most recent novel, How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly, was published by Grand Central Publishing to wide acclaim. Connie is the author of six other books: five critically praised novels and one memoir. Her novels include Sugar Cage, River of Hidden Dreams, The Problem with Murmur Lee, Remembering Blue—recipient of the Chautauqua South Literary Award—and Before Women had Wings—recipient of the 1996 Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Francis Buck Award from the League of American Pen Women. Three of her novels have been Dublin International Literary Award nominees. Connie adapted Before Women had Wings for Oprah Winfrey. The result was an Emmy-winning film starring Ms. Winfrey and Ellen Barkin. In 2002, she published When Katie Wakes, a memoir that explores her descent and escape from an abusive relationship. Her work has been translated into 18 languages and is published worldwide. Her essays have been published in the New York Times, London Times, International Herald Tribune, Japan Times, The Sun Magazine, Oxford American, BestLife, and elsewhere. For two years, she wrote “Savoring Florida,” a culinary and culture column for FORUM, a publication of the Florida Humanities Council. In 2007, Connie performed in New York City at The Player’s Club with actresses Kathleen Chalfont, Penny Fuller, and others in an adaptation based on The Other Woman, an anthology that contains her essay “The Uterine Blues.” In 2003, Connie performed in The Vagina Monologues alongside Jane Fonda and Rosie Perez in a production that raised over $100,000 for charity. Domestic violence shelters and family violence organizations have honored her with numerous awards. Throughout the 1990s she directed the Connie May Fowler Women with Wings Foundation, an organization that was dedicated to aiding women and children in need. In 2009, she received the first annual Peace, Love, and Understanding Award from WMNF Community Radio. She teaches at the Vermont College of Fine Arts low residency creative writing MFA program and directs the College's VCFA Novel Retreat held each May in Montpelier, Vermont. Connie is founder and director of the Yucatan Writing Conference. For ten years, she directed various writing conferences in Florida, including the prestigious St. Augustine Writers Conference, which she recently closed in order to concentrate her efforts in the Yucatan. She lives on Isla Cozumel with her husband Bill Hinson.

Other Works

  • The Direction of Last Things

    In-progress
  • How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly

    2011
  • The Problem with Murmur Lee

    2006
  • When Katie Wakes

    2002
  • Remembering Blue

    2001
  • Before Women had Wings

    1997
  • River of Hidden Dreams

    1994
  • Sugar Cage

    1992

Awards and Recognition

  • Finalist The Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature, 2018 Pushcart Nominee, 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award from Lee County Public Library System, 2006 Chautauqua South Award for Fiction (2001), Francis Buck Award from the League of American Penwomen (1997) Southern Book Critics Award for Fiction (1996),