Novelist- Playwright- Historian- Attorney- Vietnam Veteran
"Desire plus danger equals drama. Add history and you have dramatic dynamite."
Phillip Hal McMath is a Little Rock trial attorney, an award-winning writer, a Marine Corps Vietnam War veteran, and an ardent advocate for preserving and promoting Arkansas literature and history. McMath has published several novels and numerous short stories and articles, along with producing four plays. His book Lost Kingdoms was the winner of the Arkansiana Fiction Award in 2009, while The Broken Vase received the Booker Worthen Prize in 2011. The University of Central Arkansas established the Phillip H. McMath Post Publication award in his honor. McMath established the Porter Prize in 1984, which has made a significant contribution to literature in Arkansas.
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
The Booker Worthen Prize for Fiction for The Broken Vase, in 2011.
Recipient of the Arkansas Library Association's - The Arkansiana Fiction Award for Lost Kingdoms in 2009.
Inducted into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame in 2009.
NEA grant for the publication of Native Ground.
Winner of l993 Freedoms Foundation Award in Communications for a free-lance article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times in 1992.
Winner 1997 “FRIENDS OF WORDS” award for support of the literary arts in Arkansas sponsored by WORDS, the Arkansas Literary Society.
Awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the Jewish Federation of Arkansas in 2011 for teaching the history of the Holocaust and other acts of genocide.
PORTER PRIZE
McMath established the Porter Prize in 1984, which has made a significant contribution to literature in Arkansas.
The Porter Fund Literary Prize is presented annually to an Arkansas writer who has accomplished a substantial and impressive body of work that merits enhanced recognition. The $5000 prize makes it one of the state's most lucrative as well as prestigious literary awards. Eligibility requires an Arkansas connection. Honorees tend to be writers without high-profile national reputations, but who have produced significant amounts of quality material.
The Porter Fund Literary Prize is a non-profit organization supporting Arkansas writers and poets. The Porter Prize was founded in honor of Dr. Ben Kimpel.
