Beth Henley

Beth Henley is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and professor. Her plays include CRIMES OF THE HEART (Pulitzer Prize in Drama, New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play, and Tony Award nominee for best play) THE WAKE OF JAMEY FOSTER, THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST, AM I BLUE, THE LUCKY SPOT, THE DEBUTANTE BALL, ABUNDANCE, CONTROL FREAKS, IMPOSSIBLE MARRIAGE, FAMILY WEEK, RIDICULOUS FRAUD, THE JACKSONIAN, LAUGH, and THE UNBUTTONING. Her plays have been produced on Broadway and across the country as well as internationally and translated into fourteen languages.

Ms. Henley screenplays include CRIMES OF THE HEART (Academy Award nominee for best screenplay) NOBODY’S FOOL, THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST, and David Byrne’s TRUE STORIES.

Ms. Henley is a recipient of The American Theatre Wing 1998 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Playwriting, Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist for CRIMES OF THE HEART and RIDICULOUS FRAUD; Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award 2000; New York Stage and Film Honoree, 2007, ATHE Career Achievement Award, 2010, Mississippi Governor's Arts Awards recipients for 2013, FSW’S Cleanth Brooks Medal, 2013, American Theater Award at the William Inge Festival, 2017, and Tooth of Time Award for Distinguished Career 2023.


Originally from Mississippi, Ms. Henley now lives in Los Angeles.

She is happy to be home for the Mississippi Book Festival.