Endowment Honors a Life of Stories, Adventure and Giving

For decades, the University of Mississippi alumnus and New Albany native has collected such moments, transforming them into fiction, essays and books. With a $50,000 gift to the university's College of Liberal Arts, he hopes to help the next generation of writers do the same.

The author, career psychologist and longtime United Methodist minister established a scholarship endowment supporting graduate-level creative writing students. The gift reflects both his lifelong love of storytelling and his desire to invest in emerging writers.

"I want to leave a legacy," said Morris, who lives in Tupelo. "But I also want to promote writing and writers. I had help getting where I am today, and I want to be helpful to these students just as others were helpful to me."

Lee Cohen, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, expressed gratitude for Morris' gift.

"Joe Edd has lived a remarkable life rooted in curiosity, service and storytelling," Cohen said. "His generosity will create opportunities for talented graduate writers for years to come."

Morris grew up surrounded by stories.

"I'm not just a writer; I'm a Mississippi writer," he said. "Mississippi writers are storytellers. And that comes from sitting on porches with family, hearing tales passed down through generations."

His path to becoming a writer, however, was anything but conventional.

Morris began his college career at Ole Miss but transferred to Delta State University and then to Millsaps College, where he graduated with a degree in philosophy and English. He later returned to Ole Miss to earn his doctorate in 1977.

In between, he pursued theological studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and, for a year, pastored a Methodist congregation in the historic coastal town of Dunbar. There, he preached from a pulpit connected to the legacy of Scottish reformer John Knox with the ruins of an ancient castle nearby and the North Sea crashing against the rocks outside.

"I get chills thinking about it," Morris recalled. "The ambiance was incredible."

During breaks from his studies, he hitchhiked across Europe and traveled extensively through the Holy Land – experiences that later informed his historical and biblical fiction.

At one point, Morris accepted a position as a civilian chaplain stationed above the Arctic Circle. The remote posting provided solitude and time to write.

"That's where my serious writing began," he said. "There was not much to do, and I began working on a novel."

While developing a later novel, Morris retraced the route of Confederate expatriates through Mexico, driving from Monterrey to Mexico City and stopping in towns connected to their history. For another project, he arranged passage aboard a Mississippi River barge, spending two and a half days listening to river captains tell stories that later found their way into his fiction.

"The land opened up to me," he said of his travels. "There was a different scene at every turn of the road."

Morris has written more than 15 books. His work ranges from Southern literary fiction to biblical historical novels, and he credits curiosity with driving much of that work.

"I tell writing students the three L's: listen, look and log," he said. "As soon as I hear something that has the kernel of a story, I write it down."

Along the way, he benefited from encouragement from friend Evans Harrington and from prominent Mississippi writers, including the late Larry Brown. Brown's advice became Morris' personal mantra: "Never give up" – good advice for student writers, too.

The Joe Edd Morris Creative Writing Graduate Student Stipend Endowment is open to receiving gifts from individuals and organizations. To contribute, send a check with the fund noted in the memo line to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Avenue, Oxford, MS 38655, or give online here.

Top: On one of his many adventures, Tupelo author Joe Edd Morris visits the Taj Mahal during a trip to India. Morris has given $50,000 to establish a creative writing scholarship at Ole Miss. Submitted photo