| Author: | Doris Betts |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Published In: | Red Clay Reader |
| Media Type: | Short story |
| Pub Date: | 1969 |
"The Ugliest Pilgrim" is a southern gothic short story by American writer Doris Betts. It was first published in the Red Clay Reader, an annual magazine focusing on the work of southern authors and artists.[1]
The story follows Violet Karl a disfigured woman in her late twenties who travels by bus from her home in Spruce Pine, North Carolina to Tulsa, Oklahoma in the hopes of being healed by a televangelist.
The first adaption of "The Ugliest Pilgrim" was a 1981 film titled Violet. The short film was directed by Shelley Levinson and starring Didi Conn. It won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film in 1982.
A musical adaption "The Ugliest Pilgrim" also titled Violet was made with music by Jeanine Tesori and libretto by Brian Crawley. The musical premiered Off-Broadway in 1997 and won the Drama Critics' Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award as Best Musical.[2]