Known for her work in establishing religion as a significant publishing category, Phyllis Tickle died Tuesday, Sept. 22, at her home outside of Memphis, Tennessee. She was 81. Having announced in May that she had inoperable stage 4 lung cancer, Tickle had recently entered hospice care.

An authority on religion in America, Tickle was the retired founding editor of the religion department at Publishers Weekly. She changed the way religion publishing was covered by the magazine and thus how it was perceived by the mainstream media.

Tickle taught at Furman University (1960-62) and Rhodes College (1962-65) before serving as dean of humanities at the Memphis College of Art (1965-71). She transitioned from teaching to full-time writing and publishing, serving for a number of years as editor and publisher of St. Luke’s Press and its imprints. In 1991, she joined Publishers Weekly as founding editor of the religion department. She was a lector and lay Eucharistic minister in the Episcopal Church.

The Christy Awards presented here with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 “in gratitude for a lifetime as an advocate for fiction written to the glory of God.”

A writer, poet, book publisher and journalist, Tickle was also the author of nearly 40 books, including "The Divine Hours" series and The Great Emergence. A literary trust has been formed for the purposes of guiding the use of her work. This trust is comprised of Joseph Durepos, Tickle’s longtime friend and literary agent; Jon M. Sweeney, another longtime friend in publishing who is also researching and writing her biography; and Sam Tickle Jr., her son.  

A consultant and adviser to publishers, Tickle was a mentor and friend to many.

“She taught me that talent in young people must be nurtured,” said Jana Riess, Religion News Service columnist and a former member of Publishers Weekly’s “Team Religion.” “I was a beneficiary of her goodness on this score for years, and from the stories I hear, there must be hundreds of us Tickle protégées out there.”

Three of Tickle’s books—The Age of the Spirit, Emergence Christianity and The Great Emergence—were published by Baker Books, an imprint of Baker Publishing Group.  

“We’re deeply saddened by this news,” said Chad Allen, editorial director of Baker Books. “Phyllis was a profound thinker, an erudite observer of religion and culture, a committed pioneer of the faith and just a dear, dear friend to us here at Baker. We’re going to miss her terribly. We take some solace in knowing her books, three of which we were pleased to publish, will continue to contribute to the formation of our faith’s practice for years to come.”

Jon M. Sweeney, editorial director at Franciscan Media, reflected on his longtime friendship with Tickle.

“Phyllis Tickle was one of the finest people I have ever known,” Sweeney said. “Having her as a mentor, friend and colleague has been one of the most important relationships of my life. I am glad that I have the opportunity to spend a couple more years with her now, researching and writing her biography, which is one of the great stories of Christian faith of the second half of the 20th century.”

The Phyllis A. Tickle Award in Poetry will continue her legacy of nurturing writers. Her wish was that any gifts, in lieu of flowers, be sent to Paraclete Press to help fund this new award. Established to honor their friend, adviser and editorial board member, the award will be given every other year, starting in 2016, to a poet unpublished in volume form and will provide for the publication of the recipient’s first book of poems. Paraclete is also releasing her next book in spring 2016, Hungry Spring and Ordinary Song: The Collected Poems [an autobiography of sorts].

Tickle is survived by her daughters, Nora Katherine Cannon, Mary Gammon Ballard, Laura Lee Palermo and Rebecca Rutledge Tickle; her sons, John Crockett Tickle II and Samuel Milton Tickle Jr.; seven grandchildren and three great-grandsons. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Samuel M. Tickle Sr., and their son, Philip Wade Alexander Tickle. She and her husband raised their children on “The Farm” in Lucy, Tennessee.

Tickle's memorial service is still being planned.

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