Poet, novelist Margaret Walker was honored by the University of Iowa in 1988. From the Press-Citizen, May 6, 1988:

[Walker], 72, a poet, novelist and retired Jackson State University English teacher who still lives in Jackson , Miss., was honored Saturday with a distinguished alumni achievement award from the University of Iowa.

[Walker] said she can to Iowa in 1939 “absolutely penniless and determined to learn to write.”

She came back Saturday with 18 family members, including her four children and nine grandchildren, who took up three tables at the awards banquet.

…

She credits Paul Engle, long-time director fo the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, with getting her to Iowa and helping direct her as a writer.

“He was my friend, with whom I fussed and fought every day over what I was writing,” she said. “He’s just been a friend. He and I never agreed on anything, but he was always on my corner.”