Delta Connections Garner Award for Ralph Eubanks
Writing has been a lifelong pursuit for Ralph Eubanks, one that has led him through the publishing world, academia and the Library of Congress. The University of Mississippi alumnus recently received two honors that reflect this success in practicing and supporting the craft of writing.
Eubanks, faculty fellow and writer-in-residence at the UM Center for the Study of Southern Culture, has been named president of the Authors Guild, America’s oldest and largest professional organization for writers. He also earned a Gold Award for coverage of diverse communities in the Lowell Thomas Journalism Awards competition.
The Mount Olive native first joined the Authors Guild more than a decade ago to get help developing his first website, which is a member benefit, as well as for assistance in sorting out freelance writing contracts. He soon became active in protecting the rights of writers everywhere.
“Along with a few other organizations – photographers and songwriters – I lobbied for the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act, which established a small claims court to settle copyright violations of less than $30,000,” Eubanks said. “With piracy rampant, I felt it was important for authors to be able to put a claim through without it having to involve major infringement.”
Many people think of writers as bestselling authors, but most authors earn far less. The latter make up the majority of the guild’s membership.
“Most nonfiction writers like me only earn $20,000 per year on our writing, and for fiction writers, I believe it is around $15,000,” he said. “While the guild supports preventing infringement on the work of best-selling authors, they also support writers like me who don’t have best-selling books.”
Eubanks became interim president in April and will serve as president until March 2026. His main goal is to make sure the guild continues supporting the work of freelance journalists, to help maintain democracy.
“To advocate for free speech, I plan to continue to stand behind our work against the banning of books that seems to be rampant at the moment,” Eubanks said. “I also plan to stand firmly behind our efforts to prevent unauthorized use of the work of writers in training artificial intelligence sites.
“If an author’s work is being used to train AI, the author should authorize that use. And if they authorize that use, they should also be compensated for it.”
In November, the Authors Guild spoke out against the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times for not publishing their presidential endorsements for the first time in 36 years. Eubanks said he was very much behind the guild’s statement because he believes the organization should support the work of journalists and free speech.
“At our core, the Authors Guild is a free speech organization,” he said. “As I said at the time, the revocation of the respective editorial boards’ previous independence is troubling because it was a sudden reversal of policy and only days from the election.
“Moreover, they were rare instances of the owners’ editorial interference, raising serious questions about conflicts of interest and whether external pressures came into play.”
Eubanks brings an invaluable perspective to the organization due to his deep roots in academia and the American South, said Mary Rasenberger, the guild’s CEO.
“His experience as an accomplished author and former director of publishing at the Library of Congress, combined with his profound understanding of Southern culture and civil rights history, will help expand our organization’s reach beyond traditional publishing hubs,” Rasenberger said.
“His unique background in law and literature, along with his commitment to amplifying diverse voices, positions him perfectly to guide the Authors Guild into a more inclusive future.”
The Gold Award honors Eubanks’ 2023 Outside magazine article “Mississippi Delta: Returning Home to Its Haunted Past,” the contents of which came about while he worked on an upcoming book combining personal, historical and current perspectives of the region.
“I found myself walking Delta cotton fields, hiking levees, canoeing the Mississippi River and biking to understand the landscape of the Delta, which is very much a character in my book,” Eubanks said.
He discussed the idea for an essay on exploring the Delta landscape beyond the blues with Alex Heard, who also grew up in Mississippi and was at the time editor of Outside. The award came as a complete surprise to Eubanks.
Heard knew of Eubanks’ unique connection to the Delta and the state and felt he was the perfect person to write the essay.
“I had the idea to assign an article for Outside magazine about the Mississippi Delta as a place where natural beauty – combined with major changes brought about over time by man and agriculture and industry and history – created a unique landscape with a special pull,” Heard said. “The beautiful and haunting essay he delivered was rightly seen as an instant classic.”
Winning an award named for Lowell Thomas also holds significance for Eubanks.
“As a kid I loved my View-Master, which is a very low-tech stereoscope, and I had a set of slides on all the places I wanted to travel to as a kid, particularly the great European cities,” Eubanks said. “My View-Master came with commentary from Lowell Thomas, and I read the booklets from cover to cover to learn about the places I wanted to visit.
“I just never thought I would win an award named for Lowell Thomas, much less for writing about my own native soil.”
Written by Rebecca Lauck Cleary