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The Katherine Anne Porter Society was founded May 15, 1993, the one hundred and third anniversary of Katherine Anne Porter's birth. The process to establish the society was begun in December 1992 and completed in time for the 1993 Baltimore convention of the American Literature Association, of which the Katherine Anne Porter Society is a member society. The founding committee was made up of Professors Virginia Spencer Carr, Georgia State University; John Edward Hardy, the University of Illinois at Chicago; George Hendrick, the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana; Janis Stout, Texas A & M University; and Darlene Harbour Unrue, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

The first formal function of the society was a celebration dinner held Friday, May 30, 1993, at the Stouffer Harborplace Hotel, site of the ALA convention. In the Pride of Baltimore Room overlooking the harbor, society members and guests dined on Maryland crab bisque; a salad of watercress, jicama, and limestone lettuce with pepper dressing; stuffed breast of chicken with saffron orzo and jumbo lump crabmeat; fresh vegetables; strawberry chiffon torte with bittersweet chocolate; and a selection of premium wines and liquor--a menu the founding committee hoped would not dishonor Katherine Anne.

After dinner Cleanth Brooks, longtime friend of Katherine Anne Porter, addressed the group on the subject "Remembering Katherine Anne Porter." Professor Brooks's remarks included excerpts from many years' correspondence between his wife, Tinkum, and Katherine Anne.

Persons also attending the dinner were Beth Alvarez, Roy Alvarez, Alfred Bendixen, Virginia Spencer Carr, Barbara Thompson Davis, Jane DeMouy, Blanche Ebeling-Koning, Carl H. Griffin, Catherine Carr Lee, Dave McCutcheon, Danyal Mueenuddin, Karen Orchard, Paul Porter, Johanna Siebel, Janis Stout, Darlene Unrue, John Unrue, Fern Wilkins, and William Wilkins.

The first Katherine Anne Porter session at the ALA was held Sunday, May 30, 10:30-11:50, under the title "Katherine Anne Porter in the Modern Age." The following papers were presented: "Porter and the Twentieth-Century Intellectual Scene," Janis Stout, Texas A & M University, "'Hacienda' and Eisenstein's Que Viva Mexico!,' Ruth M. (Beth) Alvarez, University of Maryland; and "Katherine Anne Porter and the Liberal Impulse," Will Brantley, Middle Tennessee State University. Darlene Harbour Unrue presided. At 4:00 the same day among the five seminars that closed the convention was "Katherine Anne Porter's Ship of Fools." The seminar, which required prior registration, was chaired jointly by Virginia Spencer Carr, Georgia State University, and Jackson Bryer, the University of Maryland. Twelve people participated.