This year’s inductees have been described as “eloquent, inspirational, and sometimes downright outrageous” by the Hall of Fame founder and Carnegie Center executive director, Neil Chethik. They are: Wendell Berry (Henry Co.), Elizabeth Hardwick (Fayette Co.), Effie Waller Smith (Pike Co.), Jim Wayne Miller (Warren Co.), Guy Davenport (Fayette Co.) and Hunter S. Thompson (Jefferson Co.).
The University Press of Kentucky proudly honors these authors, having worked with many of them at some point in their career. UPK recently published a posthumous collection of the work of new inductee Jim Wayne Miller. Every Leaf a Mirror: a Jim Wayne Miller Reader, edited by Morris Allen Grubbs and Mary Ellen Miller, gathers essential selections from the beloved author’s oeuvre. Highlights from the volume include touchstone poems and stories; seminal articles; a rare autobiographical essay; a commencement address; and an excerpt from the previously unpublished short story “Truth and Fiction.” Both of the books editors attended the ceremony, which included a short reading by Mary Ellen Miller, Jim Wayne’s widow. “I don’t believe I’ve ever been asked to accept an award on behalf of Jim before,” she remarked. “I’m honored that the first one is the best one.”
UPK has also worked with Wendell Berry, the first living writer to be inducted. Berry has published one book with UPK, Harlan Hubbard: Life and Work; written many forwards and chapters for book; and served on the advisory board for the Culture of the Land series. He is also one of four of this year’s inductees who is featured in Home and Beyond: An Anthology of Kentucky Short Stories, also edited by Grubb. In addition to Berry’s “That Distant Land” (1986), the collection includes Elizabeth Hardwick’s “Evenings at Home” (1948), Jim Wayne Miller’s “The Taste of lronwater” (1969), and Guy Davenport’s “Belinda’s World Tour” (1993).
The latest issue of Kentucky Monthly, featuring profiles of all of the inductees, was released in time for the induction and was available to attendees. In addition, the ceremony was recorded by both WUKY and KET for later broadcast.
Article provided by Fred M McCormick, University Press of Kentucky.