LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 15, 2025) — Frank X Walker, professor of English and African American and Africana Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, has been awarded the 2025 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry for his compelling collection, “Load in Nine Times: Poems.”
The award winners were announced live at the PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony May 8 at The Town Hall in New York City, hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Tamron Hall.
The 2025
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 5, 2025) — University of Kentucky Libraries staff members have reognized junior Gabriel Portugal and senior Avery Schanbacher, students in the College of Arts and Sciences, with the 2025 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Scholarship. The annual prize honors exceptional and original scholarship in a traditional paper and a media or digital project, and is given to students whose research makes substantive and creative use of UK Libraries’ collections, services and resources.
As Dean’s Award recipients, Portugal and Schanbacher each will receive a $1
By Francis Von Mann and Avery Schanbacher
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 28, 2025) -- The first stories Goretti Ntuba ever told weren’t written for an audience. They were scribbled in the pages of a schoolgirl’s diary, reflections on home, school and the everyday rhythms of life in Cameroon.
Goretti Ntuba, a graduating senior in English and a studio art minor.This spring, she’s about to graduate from the University of Kentucky with a degree in English and a minor in studio art with stories still waiting to be told.
Ntuba’s journey, like her writing, is stitched together with the textures of two countries. A Cameroonian American writer and artist, she grew up in Cameroon before moving to the United States for college. She began her academic career at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where she majored in
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 22, 2025) — The University of Kentucky will welcome Academy Award-winning alumnus Paul Wagner on Thursday, April 24, for a screening of his film “Georgia O’Keeffe: the Brightness of Light,” a documentary about American art icon Georgia O’Keeffe. The film stars Claire Danes as the voice of O’Keeffe with narration by Hugh Dancy and features interviews with leading experts on the artist.
“The Brightness of Light” will be screened at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in the Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. A talkback with the director and producer will follow.
Wagner earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and linguistics and a Master of
By Robby Hardesty M
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 17, 2025) — Crystal Wilkinson, the Bush-Holbrook Endowed Professor and director of the Division of Creative Writing in the University of Kentucky's College of Arts and Sciences, will present UK Libraries’ 2025 Edward F. Prichard Lecture.
Wilkinson, who was Kentucky Poet Laureate for 2021-22, will read from her most recent book, “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts,” and participate in a moderated conversation with journalist and cookbook author Ronni Lundy. Published in 2024, “Praisesong” explores the legacy of Black Appalachians through storytelling alongside nearly 40 comforting recipes.
The Prichard Lecture is 5 p.
By Tom Musgrave
Oliva Walton received an English-Speaking Union Scholarship and will study at Oxford University in England this summer. Photo provided.LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 5, 2025) — Olivia Walton, a junior from Bardstown, Kentucky, has received an English-Speaking Union Scholarship.
The English-Speaking Union of the United States is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, educational service organization that promotes scholarship through the effective use of English in an expanding global community. The Kentucky branch of the English-Speaking Union awards scholarships for juniors to take summer courses offered at three institutions in the United Kingdom: Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh universities.
The scholarship covers all
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 3, 2025) — Three writers and educators with ties to the University of Kentucky will be inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.
The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning has chosen Frank X Walker and Crystal Wilkinson — both professors of English and African American and Africana Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences — as two of this year’s four living inductees.
“I
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The University of Kentucky’s Creative Writing Division in the English Department in the College of Arts and Sciences will host two nationally recognized writers as part of the UK Visiting Writers Series this spring semester.
The first event will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb.19, at the Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall. The featured reader is Kiese Laymon. The event is free and open to the public.
Kiese LaymonLaymon is the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. Laymon is the author of "Long Division," which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection "How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America," named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times.
Laymon’s bestselling "Heavy: An American Memoir," won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 17, 2025) — Frank X Walker, professor of English and African American and Africana Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, can now add two-time NAACP Image Award finalist to his expansive and impressive list of accolades.
The former Kentucky Poet Laureate’s book of
UK’s Crystal Wilkinson selects inaugural winners of Screen Door Press
By Jackie Wilson Monday
Screen Door Press’ two inaugural authors will each receive a $5,000 prize. Avery Irons presents stories of resilience among Black queer individuals during the early 20th century. Courtesy Karley Sullivan. Toni Ann Johnson’s linked short story collection explores a family’s often painful life as light-skinned Black people in a predominantly white community. Courtesy Leonard Chang.Screen Door Press’ two inaugural authors will each receive a $5,000 prize.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 9, 2024) — Screen Door Press, dedicated to discovering unique, exceptional and
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 9, 2024) — Screen Door Press, dedicated to discovering exceptional and varied voices within Black literary traditions, has announced its first two winners: Avery Irons and Toni Ann Johnson. The new imprint published by the University Press of Kentucky will award a $5,000 prize to each author.
Edited by Crystal Wilkinson, Ph.D., UK English professor and former Kentucky poet laureate., Screen Door Press celebrates fiction across a broad range of categories. The award is presented in partnership with the Thomas D. Clark Foundation, and the selected
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 22, 2024) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research recently announced the 22 undergraduate winners of the 60th annual Oswald Research and Creativity Awards. Chad Risko, faculty director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, and research ambassadors celebrated the winners and presented the awards.
Established in 1964 by then-UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Competition aims to promote undergraduate research and creative endeavors across all academic disciplines.
The competition spans categories, including biological sciences, design (architecture,
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 31, 2024) — The 43rd annual Kentucky Book Festival will return to Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 2.
More than 150 authors will be in attendance, meeting readers and signing books. Patrons can enjoy a full slate of main stage events alongside educational workshops and craft talks, as well as a children’s schedule of events.
Headlining this year’s program are Al Roker of NBC’s “Today Show,” Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathon Eig, New York Times best
By Jennifer T. Allen
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 31, 2024) — Frank X Walker, celebrated poet and former Poet Laureate of Kentucky, recently released his latest collection of historical poetry, “Load in Nine Times,” published by Liveright.
Walker, an English professor in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, draws upon the rich tapestry of Black Civil War soldiers’ experiences, including the stories of his own ancestors who enlisted in the Union Army for their freedom. Moving chronologically from the antebellum era through Reconstruction, Walker weaves together the voices of the U.S. Colored Troops, their families, slave owners and such historical figures as Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln and Margaret Garner. The result is a series of “persona poems.”
Frank X Walker | Photo by Mark Cornelison“This book feels like the
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 23, 2024) – Just because classes are out for the summer at the University of Kentucky, does not mean students have put a pause on their educational pursuits. This summer, UK junior Beaux Hardin was immersed in research. As an English and French double major in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, Lewis Honors College student and Chellgren Fellow, Hardin has pursed a passion for poetry.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 3, 2024) — Daria Goncharova, Ph.D., a May 2024 doctoral graduate from the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, is one of nine people to receive an University of Kentucky’s 2024-25 Outstanding Teaching Award.
The awards recognize individuals who demonstrate special dedication to student achievement and who are successful in their teaching. Recipients were selected via nomination and reviewed by a selection committee based in the UK Provost’s
LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 21, 2024) — Undergraduate students at the University of Kentucky who participate in research under the guidance of faculty mentors have the opportunity to publish the outcomes of their work and collaborative experiences. The first edition of Aperture Journal of Undergraduate Research launched June 1, highlighting seven student-professor partnerships.
Published by the Office of Undergraduate Research, the open-access, peer- and expert-reviewed journal, which will be published annually, aims to showcase
By Ryan Girves
The 2024 Outstanding Teaching Award winners. From left: (back) Jack Groppo, Kristine Urschel, Daria Goncharova, (center) Thaddeus Salmon, Lukas Bullock, Bradley Elliott, (front) Anastasia Hauser, John "Jack" Swab and Martha Yip. Carter Skaggs | UK PhotoLEXINGTON, Ky. (April 29, 2024) — The University of Kentucky recognized exceptional faculty and teaching assistants with the Outstanding Teaching Awards during the 2024 UK Faculty Awards Ceremony onApril 25.
The Outstanding Teaching Awards recognize faculty and graduate teaching assistants who go above and beyond what is expected and demonstrate outstanding performance in the classroom or laboratory. Selected via nomination, candidates were reviewed by a
By Daily Bates
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 2, 2024) — The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities has selected 12 undergraduate students for its fellowship program.
The Gaines Fellowship Program began in 1984 thanks to a gift from John and Joan Gaines. The program aims to recognize exceptional academic achievement, independent research capabilities, commitment to public issues and a passion for deepening the understanding of the human condition through the humanities.
“I want to acknowledge the hard work and difficult decisions made by our volunteer faculty selection committee led by Chelsea Brislin. This was a record year for Gaines applications and every one of them was stellar,” said Richard H. Schein, acting
By Lindsey Piercy and Kody Kiser
Who are your kitchen ghosts?
Hold onto that question, we’re going to come back to it.
We don’t all have the same upbringings. But we do all have people, places and things that inform who we are today.
We all have loved ones we try so dearly to hold onto — even when they are no longer physically with us. And Crystal Wilkinson finds, in those desperate moments, happy memories centered around food have a uniquely protective power.
When baking thick and buttery biscuits, the acclaimed poet and fiction writer often summons “Granny Christine” to join her.
“The kitchen was where the secrets were revealed, plans were made, advice was
