With a career spanning five decades, Frankfort’s own Richard Taylor will be inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame on March 23 at the Kentucky Theatre in Lexington.
Taylor’s first major collection of poems, "Bluegrass," was published in 1975, and began the author’s longtime collaborative association with Monterey’s Larkspur Press, located in Owen County. His most recent collections were both released last year, "Bull’s Hell: Poems on the Life of Cassius M. Clay" and "Snow Falling on Water: Selected and New Poems."
Richard Taylor
Taylor, who was Kentucky’s poet laureate from 1999 to 2001, will be honored this year along with playwrights and Kentucky natives Suzan Lori-Parks and Marsha Norman.
Posthumous inductees this year are poets Madison Cawein and Blanche Taylor Dickson.
In what Taylor has called an “immense honor,” he will be celebrated for not only his own literary accomplishments (over a dozen books of poetry, as well as multiple works of fiction and non-fiction prose) but for his storied career in education.
Taylor taught at Kentucky State University for many years, and also served as the Kenan Visiting Writer at Transylvania University. He has also been awarded a Fulbright lectureship position in Denmark, two National Endowment for the Arts writing grants, and Kentucky Arts Council’s Al Smith creative writing fellowship.
According to a biography from the event’s host, the Carnegie Center for Literacy, Taylor “has always been fascinated by the violent misfits of Kentucky history,” as well as the ties that bind nature and history together.
“I think the best writing — fiction writing, poetry — relies on images,” Taylor has said. “I'm very much attracted to the visible world. So the two kind of feed on one another.”
The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the event starting at 7 p.m.
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Mr Taylor is one of the good ones ! We are fortunate as a community to have this inductee here.
Well done neighbor. Thank you for your contribution.
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State-Journal.com’s comments forum is for civil, constructive dialogue about news topics in our community, state, nation and world. We emphasize “civil” at a time when Americans, in the words of the current president, need to “turn down the temperature” of political debates. The State Journal will do its part by more carefully policing this forum. Here are some rules that all commenters must agree to follow:
Absolutely no attacks on other commenters, on guest columnists or on authors of letters to the editor. Our print and online opinion pages are sacred marketplaces of ideas where diverse viewpoints are welcome without fear of retribution. You may constructively critique the ideas and opinions of others, but name-calling, stereotyping and similar attacks are strictly prohibited.
Leeway will be given for criticism of elected officials and other public figures, but civility is essential. If you focus your criticism on ideas, opinions and viewpoints, you will be less likely to run afoul of our commenting rules.
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