After 22 years with the Southern Lit Alliance, previously known as the Arts & Education Council, Susan Robinson has resigned as executive director effective July 15.
The Southern Lit Alliance was created in 1952 to celebrate Southern writers and readers.
During her tenure, she saw the growth of the Celebration of Southern Literature, an annual multi-day event that brought dozens of Southern writers and fans together for a weekend of readings, discussions and meet-and-greet opportunities. Over the years, the event attracted noted writers such as humorist Roy Blount Jr., novelists Dorothy Allison, Clyde Edgerton and Madison Smartt Bellformer, short story writer Richard Bausch and former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Tretheway.
Robinson also saw the development of programs such as Writers in Classrooms, Young Southern Student Writers and Dramas for Youth, and she increased the alliance's overall donor base.
She said she plans to continue working with the Fellowship of Southern Writers, a nonprofit organization founded in Chattanooga in 1987 by a group of writers.
The group seeks to highlight Southern literature and develop young writers.
"We are grateful for all of Susan's hard work and celebrate her years of dedicated service with us in this remarkable Chattanooga literary arts organization," Southern Lit Alliance President Anthony Crutcher said in a statement.
"We look forward to both Susan's and Southern Lit Alliances' continued success in the community and in their long-standing partnership with the Fellowship of Southern Writers."