{{Short description|American writer (1914–1999)}} {{Infobox person | name = | image = Celestine Sibley.png | caption = Sibley {{circa|1955}} | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1914|5|23}} | birth_place = [[Holley, Florida]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1999|8|15|1914|5|23}} <!-- {{death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | death_place = [[Dog Island, Florida]] | occupation = Writer | education = | nationality = | movement = | parents = | spouse = | children = }}

'''Celestine Sibley''' (May 23, 1914 &ndash; August 15, 1999)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/BiographiesDetailsPage/BiographiesDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Biographies&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=BIC1&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CH1000090960&source=Bookmark&u=mlin_n_umass&jsid=e207acddea3b0636c644749c0fc8ba07|title = Contemporary Authors Online|date = 2005|access-date = February 23, 2016|website = Biography in Context|publisher = Gale}}</ref><ref name="GeorgiaEncyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/celestine-sibley-1914-1999 | title=Celestine Sibley (1914-1999) | encyclopedia=New Georgia Encyclopedia | date=13 August 2013 | access-date=19 October 2015 | author=Purcell, Kim}}</ref><ref name="Remembering Celestine Sibley">{{cite news |last1=Brett |first1=Jennifer |title=Remembering Celestine Sibley |url=https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/remembering-celestine-sibley/6UalLNUHiy5usPiQZAlJKJ/ |access-date=23 April 2020 |work=[[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |date=May 9, 2014}}</ref> was an American [[newspaper reporter]], syndicated [[columnist]], and [[novelist]] in [[Atlanta, Georgia]], for nearly sixty years.

==Biography== Sibley was born in [[Holley, Florida]]. She graduated from high school in [[Mobile, Alabama]], and began her journalistic career writing for the ''[[Mobile Press-Register]]'' and the ''[[Pensacola News Journal]]''.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="GeorgiaEncyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/celestine-sibley-1914-1999 | title=Celestine Sibley (1914-1999) | encyclopedia=New Georgia Encyclopedia | date=13 August 2013 | access-date=19 October 2015 | author=Purcell, Kim}}</ref>

Sibley gained fame as an award-winning reporter, editor, and beloved columnist for the ''[[Atlanta Constitution]]'' from 1941 to 1999. According to the ''[[New Georgia Encyclopedia]]'', "Sibley was one of the most popular and long-running columnists for the Constitution, and her well-written and poignant essays on Southern culture made her an icon in the South."<ref name=":0" /><ref name="GeorgiaEncyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/celestine-sibley-1914-1999 | title=Celestine Sibley (1914-1999) | encyclopedia=New Georgia Encyclopedia | date=13 August 2013 | access-date=19 October 2015 | author=Purcell, Kim}}</ref> In addition to her column, she covered Georgia politics along with many high-profile court cases. She also wrote 25 books, both nonfiction and fiction, including mystery novels.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="nyt_obit">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/17/us/celestine-sibley-is-dead-at-85-columnist-embodied-the-south.html | title=Celestine Sibley Is Dead at 85; Columnist Embodied the South | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=August 17, 1999 | access-date=19 October 2015 | last=Barringer|first= Felicity|author-link=Felicity Barringer}}</ref>

She covered the [[Georgia General Assembly]] as a reporter from 1958 to 1978.<ref name="GeorgiaEncyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/celestine-sibley-1914-1999 | title=Celestine Sibley (1914-1999) | encyclopedia=New Georgia Encyclopedia | date=13 August 2013 | access-date=19 October 2015 | author=Purcell, Kim}}</ref> In 2000, after her death, the press gallery in the [[Georgia House of Representatives]] was named in her honor.<ref name="georgiaHR">{{cite web | url=http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/Archives/19992000/leg/fulltext/lc84050.htm | title=HR 1184 - Sibley, Celestine; designate House press gallery in her honor | access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref> She won the first [[Townsend Prize for Fiction]] in 1982 for her book ''Children, My Children''.<ref name="townsend">{{cite web | url=http://depts.gpc.edu/townsend/history.html | title=History of the Townsend Prize | publisher=Georgia Perimeter College | access-date=19 October 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213121017/http://depts.gpc.edu/townsend/history.html | archive-date=13 February 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref> After an illness, Sibley died, age 85, at her beach house on [[Dog Island (Florida)|Dog Island, Florida]].<ref name="Remembering Celestine Sibley"/>

Sibley's granddaughter, Sibley Fleming, wrote a book about her grandmother, ''Celestine Sibley: A Granddaughter's Reminiscence'' (2000).

Celestine Sibley and Sibley Fleming co-edited a collection of Sibley's writings, ''The Celestine Sibley Sampler: Writings & Photographs With Tributes to the Beloved Author and Journalist'' (1997).

== Selected works == <ref name=":0" />

* ''The Malignant Heart'', Doubleday (New York City), 1957. * ''Peachtree Street, U.S.A.: An Affectionate Portrait of Atlanta'', Doubleday, 1963; reprinted as ''Peachtree Street, U.S.A.: A Personal Look at Atlanta and Its History'', Peachtree Publishers (Atlanta), 1994. * ''Christmas in Georgia'', Doubleday, 1964. * ''A Place Called Sweet Apple'', Doubleday, 1967. * ''Dear Store: An Affectionate Portrait of Rich's'', Doubleday, 1967. * ''Especially at Christmas'', Doubleday, 1969. * ''Mothers Are Always Special'', Doubleday, 1970. * ''The Sweet Apple Gardening Book'', Doubleday, 1972. * ''Day by Day with Celestine Sibley'', Doubleday, 1975. * ''Small Blessings'', Doubleday, 1977. * ''Jincey'', Simon & Schuster (New York City), 1979. * ''The Magical Realm of Sallie Middleton'', Oxmoor House (Birmingham, AL), 1980. * ''Children, My Children'', Harper (New York City), 1981. * ''Young 'Uns: A Celebration'', Harper, 1982. * ''For All Seasons'', Peachtree Publishers, 1984. * ''Turned Funny: A Memoir'', Harper, 1988. * ''Christmas in Georgia'', Peachtree Publishers, 1985. * ''Tokens of Myself'', Longstreet Press, 1990.

=== "Kate Mulcay" mystery novels === * ''Ah, Sweet Mystery'', HarperCollins (New York City), 1991. * ''Straight as an Arrow'', HarperCollins, 1992. * ''Dire Happenings at Scratch Ankle'', HarperCollins, 1993. * ''A Plague of Kinfolks'', HarperCollins, 1995. * ''Spider in the Sink'', HarperCollins, 1997.

== Awards == * Three awards from [[Associated Press]] for news stories<ref name=":0" /> * Two awards from Georgia Conference on Social Work for stories contributing to human welfare<ref name=":0" /> * Radio and television awards from [[Pall Mall (cigarette)|Pall Mall]]<ref name=":0" /> * Awards from Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists, for ''Small Blessings''<ref name=":0" /> * Green Eyeshadow Award from [[Society of Professional Journalists|Sigma Delta Chi]]<ref name=":0" /> * Posthumously inducted into the [[Georgia Writers Hall of Fame]] in 2007.<ref name=GeorgiaEncyclopedia/> * Inducted into the [[Georgia Women of Achievement]] in 2010.<ref name=GeorgiaEncyclopedia/> * Inducted into the [[Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame]] in 2019.<ref name=Geiger>{{cite news|title=Meltons inducted into Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame | author=Geiger, Walter |date=June 5, 2019 | location=[[Barnesville, Georgia]] | newspaper=The Herald-Gazette | url=http://www.barnesville.com/archives/11708-Meltons-inducted-into-Georgia-Newspaper-Hall-of-Fame.html | access-date=July 1, 2020 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190610225345/http://www.barnesville.com/archives/11708-Meltons-inducted-into-Georgia-Newspaper-Hall-of-Fame.html | archive-date=June 10, 2019 }}</ref>

== References == {{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==

* [https://rose.library.emory.edu/ Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library], Emory University: [http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/8zw39 Celestine Sibley papers, 1900-1997] * [https://www.ajc.com/ Atlanta Journal-Constitution], [https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/books--literature/celebrating-celestine-sibley-the-century-mark/6GZZIORv3QcN0YVg3EYhJN/ Celebrating Celestine Sibley at the century mark] {{Georgia Women of Achievement}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sibley, Celestine}} [[Category:20th-century American novelists]] [[Category:American columnists]] [[Category:American mystery writers]] [[Category:American children's writers]] [[Category:20th-century American memoirists]] [[Category:American newspaper reporters and correspondents]] [[Category:The Atlanta Journal-Constitution people]] [[Category:1914 births]] [[Category:1999 deaths]] [[Category:American women memoirists]] [[Category:American women columnists]] [[Category:American women children's writers]] [[Category:American women mystery writers]] [[Category:20th-century American women novelists]] [[Category:Novelists from Florida]] [[Category:People from Santa Rosa County, Florida]] [[Category:People from Franklin County, Florida]] [[Category:Memoirists from Florida]]