2024 Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
This year's living inductees are George C. Wolfe, three-time Tony award-winning director of plays and movies; Fenton Johnson, who wrote the first major work of fiction about the impact of the AIDS crisis on rural America; and Mary Ann Taylor-Hall, whose novel Come and Go, Molly Snow is a classic Kentucky story. The 2024 posthumous inductees are Mary Lee Settle, a National Book Award-winning novelist; Paul Brett Johnson, a landscape painter who wrote and illustrated children’s books; and Billy C. Clark, whose autobiography was considered by Time magazine to be “as authentically American as Huckleberry Finn.”
In addition to inducting six new writers, the second Kentucky Literary Impact award will be presented to the late Mike Mullins, who was director of the Hindman Settlement School from 1977 until his death in 2012. As director, he built the annual Appalachian Writers Workshop into a nationally known program and promoted the careers of many Kentucky writers.
BOOK SIGNING: Selected books written by the inductees will be available for purchase following the ceremony.
PLEASE NOTE: The Carnegie Center's building will be closing early on Monday, March 25, at 5:00 PM for this special event. There will be no classes or tutoring after 5:00 PM.
The Hall of Fame was created by the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in 2012 to recognize outstanding writers with strong ties to Kentucky. Members are chosen by committees at the Carnegie Center and the Kentucky Arts Council that include some of the state’s most accomplished writers.
Thank you to our generous sponsors: Kentucky Arts Council, LexArts, Community Trust Bank, Cornett, Russ Tucker (State Farm Agent), L.V. Harkness, Jim Gray, Charles & Linda Gorton, Visit Lex, and Kentucky Monthly.
If you or your company/organization would like to be a 2024 Hall of Fame sponsor, email Development Director Mollie Harris: mharris@carnegiecenterlex.org. Commit to sponsoring the event by March 13 to be featured in event print materials, signage, and social media posts.
Mary Ann Taylor-Hall Interviews
The Arts Connect Art Throb Podcast sits down with Mary Ann Taylor-Hall to talk about her books, her life, and the things that inspire her.
Listen Here: https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html
An archived interview that aired on NPR/WEKU can be heard here: https://www.weku.org/people/kate-savage
Fenton Johnson Interview
Tom Eblen's conversation with author Fenton Johnson. Johnson observes that for all its rich natural beauty and hospitality of its people, Kentucky has a penchant for shooting itself in the foot. He offers an explanation.
Listen Here: https://esweku.org/track/3734528/march-14-2024-tom-eblen-fenton-johnson
