Which writers (and a movie star) will join Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame this year?
Sena Jeter Naslund is not from Kentucky, nor are her best-selling novels set here.
But her entry as the only living writer into the 2020 Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame is based on a long literary career of writing, publishing, teaching and mentoring others in her adopted city of Louisville.
She is most famous for her 1999 novel, “Ahab’s Wife”, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and best-seller, which sumptuously re-imagined “Moby Dick,” as well as eight other novels. She’s also the founding director of the low residency creative writing program at Spalding University, which offered the state’s first MFA in writing.
The Hall of Fame honor, though, has a special meaning for her because of her Lexington connections: She was good friends with Pam and Bob Sexton, who worked with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning and introduced Naslund to its work in downtown Lexington, which includes the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.
“It’s one of the cultural jewels of Kentucky,” Naslund said from her Louisville home. ”It’s a place that really serves people, from people who can barely read to people navigating a new language to people doing poetry and literature and doing the best work they can. It’s a beehive of creative and intellectual activity, and I really like that the Hall of Fame honor is made possible by the Carnegie Center.”
Certainly, current director Neil Chethik has worked hard to elevate Kentucky’s literary heritage, both with the Hall of Fame, and by seeking the designation for Lexington as a “City of Literature” by the United Nations.
“I do think there is something extra special about Kentucky, possibly because of the history we have of conflict and the characters who have lived here, not to mention the beauty of the natural resources,” Chethik said. “It’s just one of those places where I think there is an extra attention to writing and story telling. We’re here to promote and honor those writers.”
In addition to Naslund, the four other inductees are:
▪ Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of such plays as “Buried Child,” “True West” and “Fool for Love,” who went on to become an Oscar nominated actor in “The Right Stuff.” He bred Thoroughbreds on a Midway farm from 2000 to 2017, when he died of complications from ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
▪Lucy Furman (1869-1958): The Henderson native wrote numerous short stories and novels about both western and eastern Kentucky, which she wrote after 17 years as the director of grounds at the Hindman Settlement School. The University Press of Kentucky recently reissued one of her “The Quare Women.”
▪Hollis Spurgeon Summers (1916-1987), a prolific poet and novelist who also mentored others, including the famous Kentucky Five: Wendell Berry, James Baker Hall, Bobbie Ann Mason, Ed McClanahan and Gurney Norman, while an English professor at UK.
▪Cleanth Brooks (1906-1994): Brooks was born in Murray, not far from his longtime friend and colleague, Robert Penn Warren, and went on to become one of the 20th century’s most famous literary critics. With Warren, he co-authored two classic textbooks, “Understanding Poetry” and “Understanding Fiction.”
In addition, the Hall of Fame is handing out its first Literary Impact Award, which is being given to Gray Zeitz, the owner and operator of the Larkspur Press in Owen County for the past 45 years.
The press has hand-printed more than 130 books, including the first books of Richard Taylor and James Baker Hall, as well as works by Berry, Mason, Nikky Finney and Silas House. Zeitz attended the University of Kentucky and studied printing under Carolyn Hammer at the King Library Press.
The Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame ceremony will be held on Feb. 5 at the Kentucky Theatre at 7 p.m. It is free and open to the public. For more information, go to https://carnegiecenterlex.org/event/ky-writers-hall-fame/
This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 12:25 PM.
