Billy Pullen

Billy M. Pullen wears many hats as teacher, writer, and actor, but he is first and foremost a teacher who has won national and state honors, including TN Teacher of the Year. As a playwright, his one-act play won the Grand Festival Prize in New York City’s Theatre Row. His essays have been published in Narrative, The Legendary, Literary Oak Foliate, The Red Dirt Forum and SUBPLOTS. His memoir “The Purple Hair of Jesus” was recently nominated for the Pushcart Prize. An NEH grant recipient, Billy completed a summer study with Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA. He also received the Tennessee Williams Scholarship to attend the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Billy has an MA in theatre arts from the University of Memphis and an MFA in Creative Non-Fiction from the University of the South at Sewanee. He won the Broadway Memphis Award for Best Featured Actor as Polonius for the 2017 New Moon production of Hamlet. He was nominated again for his portrayal of Malvolio in Twelfth Night. In 2009 he was rescued by the phenomenal rat terrier Bandit.