Prolific writer David Madden graduated from UT with a bachelor of arts in education in 1957. He enrolled at UT in 1951, but left later for opportunities with the US Merchant Marines and the Army. After earning his MA in creative writing at San Francisco State University in 1958 and attending the Yale Drama School from 1959 to 1960, Madden published his first novel The Beautiful Greed in 1961. Madden began his teaching career in 1958 as an instructor in English at Appalachian State Teachers College. He spent time teaching at Centre College, the University of Louisville, Kenyon College, and Ohio University. In 1968, he joined the faculty at Louisiana State University as the writer in residence, a position he held for 24 years. Madden retired in 2008 as Robert Penn Warren Professor of Creative Writing, Emeritus. He is the recipient of a Rockefeller Grant and a National Endowment for the Arts Grant. His stories have appeared twice in Best American Short Stories. Madden’s collection of four novellas called Marble Goddesses and Mortal Flesh was published by UT Press in 2017.