Author of 'The Chaperone' receives Tony Arnold research award


Tue, 05/28/2013

author

Kristi Henderson

LAWRENCE — A best-selling author on the faculty of the Department of English at the University of Kansas has received an award to support research for her next novel.

Laura Moriarty, assistant professor, was selected to receive the Craig Anthony (Tony) Arnold Faculty Innovation Award. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences gives out the award each year to a faculty member who submits an outstanding General Research Fund proposal.

The $1,200 award will support Moriarty’s research work for her next novel, which will focus on women in historical fiction, as did her successful novel “The Chaperone.” Published in 2012, “The Chaperone” gained wide critical praise from outlets including USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor and The Washington Post.

Moriarty’s fifth novel will further explore women’s places and roles in U.S. history through her engaging storytelling.

Moriarty writes literary novels that focus on the stories of women of varying economic classes and ages. Her first novel, “The Center of Everything,” is a coming-of-age story set in Kansas during the Reagan years. Her subsequent protagonists have been adults, but they also have been stories of struggle and change. Her characters are often flawed human beings with ordinary lives forced by circumstance or their own unquiet minds to reconsider long-held beliefs.

The innovation award fund was established by Craig Anthony (Tony) Arnold, a 1987 political science and history graduate who is the Boehl Chair in Property and Land Use, professor of law, affiliated professor of urban planning, and chair of the Center for Land Use & Environmental Responsibility, all at the University of Louisville. Arnold has served as the Huber Hurst Visiting Eminent Scholar, University of Florida Levin College of Law. He currently serves as chair of the College’s alumni advisory board.

Funds for the award are managed by KU Endowment, the independent nonprofit foundation serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment was the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

The Department of English is part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The College encourages learning without boundaries in its more than 50 departments, programs and centers. Through innovative research and teaching, the College emphasizes interdisciplinary education, global awareness and experiential learning. The College is KU's broadest, most diverse academic unit.

Tue, 05/28/2013

author

Kristi Henderson

Media Contacts

Kristi Henderson

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

785-864-3663