Lexington, KY - When Jan Isenhour, the recently retired director of Lexington's Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, first started publicly referring to Kentucky as the "Literary Capital of Mid-America," the audaciously coined phrase was mostly met with lighthearted chuckles. More than a year later, with friends of the local literary hub having had more time to digest the concept, the title has gained more traction -- and you can expect to hear it with more frequency as the non-profit rolls out a campaign to bring wider recognition to the state's literary accomplishments and offerings, according to the center's new director, Neil Chethik.
With Kentucky's literary distinctions including being the home state of the country's first poet laureate (Robert Penn Warren) and first African American novelist (William Wells Brown), not to mention an impressive roster of best-selling authors -- from Barbara Kingsolver and Kim Edwards to Wendell Berry and Hunter S. Thompson -- and nationally acclaimed events like the Kentucky Women Writers Conference, the argument certainly has legs. In many ways, these accolades speak for themselves, which simplifies the task for the Carnegie Center staff, Chethik said.
"It's a lot easier to communicate something when it's already a reality than it is trying to communicate something when you're trying to make it so," he said.
While Chethik acknowledged that there are pockets of communities across the country that are perhaps more entrenched in their literary hotbed status -- Oxford, Miss., comes to mind, as does the creative writing program at Iowa State University -- he notes that "there's really no state that's saying, and that has the chops to say, that 'if you want to be a writer, this is the place to come.'"
This month, the Carnegie Center will showcase three of the state's most recognized and distinguished writers -- Bobbie Ann Mason, Ed McClanahan and Nikky Finney, who was recently awarded the prestigious National Book Award in poetry for her collection "Head Off and Split" -- during the Feb. 7 installment of the Kentucky Great Writers Series. As Carnegie Center communications director Jessica Mohler points out, the installment was intended to be a "throwback" of sorts, featuring three established writers who have long proven their talents to the state and the rest of the world. The line-up was decided more than a year ago -- before Finney was announced as a National Book Award nominee, before Mason started receiving praise for her 2011 novel "The Girl in the Blue Beret," before McClanahan even announced he was working on a new book ("I Just Hitched in From the Coast," a collection of 14 stories, including all three stories from the long out-of-print "Congress of Wonders.").
"It shows the longevity (of our local writers)," Mohler said. "These are our 'throwback' authors, and they all have new releases."
With their history as Lexington-based authors, all three can personally attest to the value of the Carnegie Center and its mission to accentuate Kentucky's place on the literary map. Mason took French lessons at the center, to help prepare her for the extensive research she conducted in France for her new book; Finney penned her second book, "Rice," in one of the Carnegie Center's writing cubbies. McClanahan, who is considered a good friend of the organization, praises the sense of community that is offered at the Carnegie Center, acknowledging that it has provided a haven of community and support for family members and other fellow local writers.
Chethik described the opportunity to have these three writers in one room to show off Kentucky as a literary capital as a "culminating moment."
"This has developed at the same time as we were even becoming aware ourselves of what a tremendous resource and pool of talent that we have in our state," he said. "We've helped a lot of folks to further their careers, and they've helped us to raise awareness of the Carnegie Center and the literary talents that we have in the state -- it's kind of a convergence of talent."
While readings by acclaimed Kentucky authors, like February's event, might be the best and most effective testament to the state's literary riches, the Carnegie Center has a host of additional ideas to help raise Kentucky's profile, including a literary hall of fame, developing a literary history tour of the region, and expanding the state's programs to support and assist up-and-coming writers. The organization will host its first "Books in Progress" conference June 8-9, which is geared toward authors and aspiring authors at all stages; Barbara Kingsolver is the keynote speaker.
Chethik pointed out a sense of irony in the fact that Kentucky is often noted on a national scale for high levels of illiteracy and poor education -- a reputation the state has been working hard to overcome.
"On the surface, it's counterintuitive -- people look at us and think, 'That's a state where the educational system is not that good,'" he said. "None of that is actually accurate anymore."
"There's something about who we are, where are, the beauty of our state, the history of our state," Chethik added, "that is all part of what has produced this legacy for us."