Belhaven University Professor Receives Mississippi Arts Commission Fellowship, Earns National Recognition for Novel
JACKSON, Miss. (July 9, 2026) – Belhaven University Creative Writing professor Randy Smith has been awarded a $5,000 Individual Artist Fellowship Grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) to support completion of his novel in progress, The Ruby, the River, and the Pines.
The highly competitive fellowship recognizes outstanding Mississippi artists and provides financial support for the creation of new work. Smith will use the grant to fund writing retreats and historical research over the coming year as he completes the novel.Adding to the project's momentum, a draft of The Ruby, the River, and the Pines: A Southern Gospel in Three Parts was recently named one of only 13 finalists for the 2026 Big Moose Prize, a national competition for unpublished novels sponsored by Black Lawrence Press in New York. The finalists were selected from hundreds of manuscript submissions, with the winning novel to be announced later this summer.
“Randy Smith's achievements reflect the excellence of Belhaven University's creative writing department and our commitment to cultivating artists whose work engages both imagination and truth,” said Belhaven University Provost Dr. Audrey Kelleher. “Receiving a Mississippi Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship and being named a finalist for the Black Lawrence Press Big Moose Fiction Prize are remarkable honors that recognize Randy's talent, discipline, and dedication to the craft of storytelling. We celebrate these well-deserved accomplishments and look forward to the impact his novel, The Ruby, the River, and the Pines, will have on readers.”
Funding for the Mississippi Arts Commission's Individual Artist Fellowship program is provided by the Mississippi State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. The fellowships recognize Mississippi artists whose work demonstrates exceptional artistic excellence while supporting the creation of new work that enriches the state's cultural landscape.