Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame Ceremony at The Carnegie Center

Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame Ceremony at The Carnegie Center

Sena Jeter Naslund, an internationally renowned novelist and award-winning educator who has lived in Louisville for more than 45 years, is the newest living inductee into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame. 

Naslund, author of such bestsellers as   Ahab’s Wife,   Four Spirits  and   Adam & Eve, will speak at the annual induction ceremony at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at Lexington’s historic Kentucky Theatre. The event is free and open to the public.

Naslund will be inducted along with four deceased Kentucky writers:

    Hollis Summers (1916-1987), a writer and poet who was born in Henry County. As a University of Kentucky English professor, he was an important mentor to several students who would later become great Kentucky writers.

    Lucy Furman (1870-1958), whose novels and short stories told about small-town and rural life near her native Henderson and in the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky

    Sam Shepard (1943-2017), the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and movie star who lived much of the last 17 years of his life on his horse farm near Midway.

    Cleanth Brooks (1907-1994), a native of Murray, who was one of the 20th century’s most influential literary critics, as well as an English professor at Yale University.

Doors will open at the historic Kentucky Theatre, 214 E. Main St., at 6:30 p.m. Naslund will sign books after the ceremony, which will be recorded by Kentucky Educational Television for broadcast at a later date.

These authors bring the number of Kentucky writers inducted into the Hall of Fame to 44. The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning created the Hall of Fame in 2012 to recognize Kentucky writers whose work reflects the character and culture of our Commonwealth, and to educate Kentuckians about the state's rich literary heritage.

For a writer to be eligible for the Hall of Fame, he or she must have been born in or had a significant connection to the Commonwealth of Kentucky and published work of enduring merit. Selection to the Hall of Fame involves a four-step process. Nominations are made by the public and evaluated by a Carnegie Center committee, which provides a long list to the Kentucky Arts Council. An arts council committee, which includes some of the state’s best-known writers, ranks the nominees for final selection by the Carnegie Center staff.

For more information call  (859) 254-4175  or visit Carnegiecenterlex.org