Sophie Kerr Legacy
The Sophie Kerr Gift has enabled ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ to bring to campus the nation's top writers, editors, and scholars and to support our unique community of student writers with grants, scholarships, and fantastic opportunities to experience the literary life of writing and publishing.
The visiting scholars and writers series puts renowned writing professionals in front of students to read their work, conduct generative workshops, answer questions, share meals, visit classrooms, and more. In collaboration with the Center for Career Development, the English department holds an annual Sophie Kerr Career Week in early February, hosting panels and guest speakers discussing their writing-powered careers, ranging from public relations to nonprofit administration and many more.
In addition to bringing visiting scholars and writers to campus, the Sophie Kerr Gift provides annual scholarships for students who show literary promise, pays for library books, and supports student internships and research in the fields of literature, writing, and publishing with the Sophie Kerr Promise Grants. The result is a wonderfully vibrant intellectual culture where the literary arts thrive for our students on and off campus.
The Sophie Kerr Prize is awarded each year to the graduating senior who has the best ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor. Valued today at over $75,000, it is the nation's largest literary prize awarded solely to undergraduate students.
About Sophie Kerr
Sophie Kerr, an Eastern Shore native, was a prolific and popular American writer of
the early 20th century. Kerr published 23 novels, hundreds of short stories, many
film scripts, and a cook book in her lifetime. In addition to publishing her own stories,
Kerr began her career with a staff position at the Pittsburgh Gazette and became editor of its Women's Sunday Supplement at age 22. She later served as managing editor for Women's Home Companion in New York.
After her death in 1965, Kerr designated ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ the beneficiary of a half-million-dollar trust fund, stipulating that half of the annual earnings of her estate would be awarded to a graduating senior demonstrating promising writerly instincts. The other half of Kerr's funds, called the gift, sets aside a sum of money to be spent at the direction of the Sophie Kerr Committee—the College president and English faculty—on student scholarships, library books, literary publications, and visiting writers and scholars.