Phillip Howerton

Phillip Howerton is a sixth-generation Ozarker and was brought up on a small dairy farm in southern Dallas County, Missouri. After spending several years as a milk truck driver, beef farmer, and production worker, he earned degrees in English, history, and education from Drury University and a doctorate in American literature and rhetoric and composition from University of Missouri-Columbia.

He is a professor of English, co-editor of Cave Region Review: A Regional Journal of Visual and Literary Arts, and general editor of Elder Mountain: A Journal of Ozarks Studies. His book reviews, poetry, and essays have appeared in a variety of publications, such as Appalachian Journal, Arkansas Review, Big Muddy, The Journal of Kentucky Studies, The Midwest Quarterly, Modern Haiku, Plainsongs, Red Rock Review, River Oak Review, and The South Carolina Review.

Golden Antelope Press published his poetry collection, The History of Tree Roots, in 2015, and University of Arkansas Press released his The Literature of the Ozarks: An Anthology, in February 2019. He was the recipient of the 2019 Missouri Literary Award from the Missouri Library Association. His critical edition of the 1933 novel The Woods Colt, by Thames Williamson, was released by University of Arkansas Press in February 2023. His second poetry collection, Gods of Four Mile Creek, was released by Golden Antelope Press in October 2023.

He also owns and operates Cornerpost Press, a small independent press. The first book published by CPP, Jim Hamilton's Ozarks RFD, won the 2020 Nonfiction Book Award from the Ozarks Writers' League. The third book from CPP, Steve Wiegenstein's Scattered Lights, was a finalist for the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Fiction Award.

During 2022, Cornerpost press released Jim Fowler's short story collection, Field Trip, John Mort's The Ballad of Johnny Bell, and a poetry "chapthology," Wild Muse: Ozarks Nature Poetry. In 2023, CPP released Mark Spitzer's Cryptozarkia.