The Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award was established in 1994 by the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration (NLCC) to honor the internationally known author Richard Wright. The son of a country schoolteacher and sharecropper, Wright was born near Natchez in 1908. His first novel, Native Son, was published in 1940 and was an immediate success. Black Boy, a fictionalized autobiography, was published in 1945 and sold 400,000 copies in three months. After leaving Natchez, Wright worked in Chicago and later moved to Paris, where he died in 1960.
Each year, winners of the award are honored for a body of literary work. They must be outstanding, living writers with a strong Mississippi connection. The award has been funded annually by Natchez Newspapers Inc., publisher of The Natchez Democrat and The Miss-Lou Guide.
Wright was honored by the NLCC on June 9, 1990, when a historic marker bearing his name was erected on the Natchez Bluff in ceremonies attended by Wright family members and friends. On the 100th anniversary of his birth, the NLCC again paid tribute to Wright with a conference called “Richard Wright, the South, and the World: A Centennial Celebration.” During this conference, a of portion of U.S. Highway 84 was designated the Richard Wright Memorial Highway.
