Award-winning author Jen Fawkes graced creative writers and readers alike with an excerpt from “Daughters of Chaos,” her new epic novel about Civil War-era Nashville’s “public women,” Jan. 25 at the Windgate Center.
Phillip H. McMath, winner of the Arkansiana Fiction Award for “Lost Kingdoms” in 2009 and the Booker Worthen Prize for “The Broken Vase” in 2011, presented Fawkes with the UCA Phillip H. McMath Post-Publication Book Award for Prose.
McMath listed several of her accomplishments, including the Press 53 Award for Fiction, the 2019 John Gardner Memorial Fiction Prize and the 2021 Porter Fund Literary Prize.
“The most rewarding thing about this is recognizing brilliant fiction writers like Jen Fawkes,” he said. “It’s just a thrill every year to be able to do this with someone of her caliber. I can talk about Jen Fawkes for an hour.”
McMath said Fawkes has a “wonderful way” of taking classical and fabulous myths and combining them with characters like Medusa, Captain Hook and Rumpelstiltskin, and “then she leads them the lives of ordinary characters in extraordinary ways.”
“When you read Jen, you’re in for a fabulous, rich ride,” he said.
Fawkes said she was “thrilled” that her first novel is coming out in July.
“It took me quite a long time to figure out how to make the leap from short-form to long-form fiction,” she said.
She said “the true story of Nashville’s attempt to exile prostitutes during the American Civil War” inspired her to write “Daughters of Chaos.”
“It’s a story that has not been told because there was no one to record the experiences of those involved at the time,” she said.
The novel is a three-part braided narrative that moves between Ancient Greece, 16th-century Venice and Nashville during the Civil War.
She did research for the book using academic articles from JSTOR and the 1860 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Blakley Sheridan, a senior double majoring in English and creative writing, said, “It was fascinating to see just how much research she put into her novel, and I love the idea of being able to use multiple different formats in one book.”
Fawkes said her favorite to write of her three published works was the first, “Tales the Devil Never Told Me,” which she wrote in graduate school when she was 34.
“I love [Daughters of Chaos], but writing it was torture,” she said. “The time in which you’re getting your MFA [Master of Fine Arts] is a magical time in a writer’s life … and I didn’t know what I couldn’t do, so I just did what I wanted.”
Stephanie Vanderslice, a professor of creative writing, said, “It’s always a treat listening to Jen Fawkes read from her work. It’s always so daring, original and utterly fascinating. I loved listening to her talk about her writing and her research, too.”
Brysten Wescott, a senior majoring in creative writing and minoring in writing, said “the obvious amount of research present in the book” motivated him.
“It blows my mind, especially with her later comments of not even believing in the concept of creative nonfiction writing, that it is just an aspect of fiction,” he said. “This amount of research was not necessary for a fictional telling, yet it is present, showing her dedication to her craft. I am personally looking forward to her full book’s release.”
Sandy Longhorn, an associate professor of creative writing, said she was inspired by “the combination of deeply researched subject matter and well-crafted characters with a hint of the mystical.”
Sierra Clark, a senior majoring in creative writing and minoring in English, said, “It was a great opportunity to get an inside look into a book before it is made publicly available.
“On another note, Jen Fawkes had such a cool outfit. It looked handmade, like something I’d never find in a chain store.”
Eulea Kiraly, a post-baccalaureate student in creative writing, said the reading was “inspiring for late MFA students.”
“I’m in the process of applying right now, and it’s kind of scary… You can start that MFA whenever you’re ready,” Kiraly said.
Fawkes’ debut novel, “Daughters of Chaos,” comes out July 9, 2024.
