By Megan Foltz

University of Kentucky Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and African American and Africana Studies DaMaris B. Hill will participate in the European Association for American Studies (EAAS) meeting next September at the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu, Finland. EAAS meets once a year to study a marginalized text or author.

This year’s workshop will focus on America’s early 20th century magazine The Brownies’ Book, published by NAACP founder William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, better known as W.E.B. Du Bois. With most of the children’s literature of the day produced by white authors for white children, Du Bois wanted to offer an alternative. The magazine contextualizes writing of the 19th century and counters negative stereotypes about African Americans in the early 20th century. The Brownies’ Book contains

By Whitney Hale and Gail Hairston

Watch as contestants at the Brooklyn Book Festival try to figure out what "The Animators," by UK alumna Kayla Rae Whitaker, is all about based only on its cover.

Very few authors find themselves publishing their debut novel with a name as big as Random House, much less earning acclaim from critics such as The New York Times. But for University of Kentucky alumna Kayla Rae Whitaker, these are natural next steps for someone who showed tremendous promise during her college career. Whitaker’s novel, "The Animators," was released earlier this year.

Aspiring writers from the university and across the nation will get to hear Whitaker's own take on her early success and hear a reading

By Gail Hairston

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation announced Friday that University of Kentucky’s Peter Joseph Kalliney and 172 other scholars, artists and scientists in the United States and Canada have received a coveted Guggenheim Fellowship.

According to the foundation’s announcement, successful candidates were appointed on the basis of “prior achievement and exceptional promise.”

“It’s exciting to name 173 new Guggenheim Fellows,” said the President of the Guggenheim Foundation Edward Hirsch in a media release. “These artists and writers, scholars and scientists, represent the best of the best. Each year since (its establishment in) 1925, the

By Gail Hairston

The University of Kentucky will send 59 undergraduate student-researchers to the 31st annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) at the University of Memphis April 6-8.

The UK group joins young researchers from around the world to showcase their research findings through poster and oral presentations. Each student will be given the opportunity to discuss their display and share their research results, illuminating how their work will have an impact on future research development. UK has been an active NCUR participant since the mid ’90s.

One of the first things these young researchers learn is that most research is not conducted in the traditional laboratory with bubbling beakers and flaming Bunsen burners. But modern research spans all disciplines and majors, and includes a wide variety of activities.

“For some

By Whitney Harder

Paidin Dermody, a University of Kentucky journalism and English sophomore with a minor in photography, has been named the Kentucky Kernel's editor for the 2017-2018 school year.

“I feel lucky — opportunity met preparation, and I now have the great responsibility of following a talented line of editors-in-chief to continue the storied history of the Kernel as one of the pre-eminent student publications in the country,” Dermody said in a Kernel story last week. “Good people and great journalism will deliver an evolved, enlightened and entertaining product to our readers.”

The Kernel Board selected Dermody, currently the managing editor, "for her detailed plan to expand the Kernel’s digital

By Dorothy Freeman and Whitney Hale

The University of Kentucky Art Museum in collaboration with UK's Department of English and MFA in Creative Writing program will present a free public lecture by poet, novelist, performer and art journalist Eileen Myles 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, in Gatton College of Business and Economics' Kincaid Auditorium.

Eileen Myles has become a feminist icon whose literary and artistic work has, in the words of the New York Review of Books

By Gail Hairston

As part of the University of Kentucky Visiting Writers Series, acclaimed author Dinaw Mengestu will read from his works at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, in the Creative Arts Studio (Room 153) in Holmes Hall, 111 Avenue of Champions in Lexington. Mengestu, an Ethiopian-American, has written three novels, including “All Our Names,” published in 2014.

“All Our Names” is an epic love story that follows Isaac, a refugee fleeing war-torn Uganda. Isaac finds himself in the American Midwest and begins a passionate affair with the social worker assigned to him. The book was named a best book of the year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, The Christian Science Monitor and The Boston Globe, among other major publications.

Mengestu’s “The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears,” published in 2007, was a New York Times Notable Book, won The

By Gail Hairston

For the first time, the University of Kentucky is hosting the southern chapter of the American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS), March 9-11.

With over 50 speakers from 17 states and several speakers from Ireland, the event has something for anyone even slightly interested in the history and culture of “The Emerald Isle.”

“I am delighted that we are able to host — for the first time — the southern regional meeting of the Conference for Irish Studies here at the University of Kentucky,” UK English Professor Jonathan Allison said.

All events are free and open to members of both the UK and Lexington communities. Allison said he especially wants to invite students.  

Friday’s schedule includes the keynote address, poetry and music. Ronald Schuchard, the

By Gail Hairston, Amy Jones-Timoney, and Kody Kiser

Six University of Kentucky educators were named recipients of the UK Alumni Association 2017 Great Teacher Award Tuesday night.

The recipients are:

Award recipients were honored at the UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award Recognition Dinner last night at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington. They were also recognized during the Vanderbilt

By Lori Minter

A record number of students made the University of Kentucky Dean's List for the fall 2016 semester. The 7,408 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance.  That's an increase of more than 200 over the previous record reached in fall 2015 when the number of students on the UK Dean's List surpassed 7,000 for the first time.  Last semester's Dean's List includes over 700 more students than the spring 2016 semester's list.

To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, a student must earn a grade point average of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes.  Some UK colleges require a 3.5 GPA to make the Dean’s List.

The full Dean's List can be accessed by visiting www.uky.edu/PR

By Whitney Hale

Poet Camille T. Dungy, known for her groundbreaking anthology of African-American nature poetry, will be the keynote speaker for the 2017 Kentucky Women Writers Conference, running Sept. 15-16. Dungy, who has two books scheduled to be released this year including her debut memoir, will present her keynote address 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, at the University of Kentucky Singletary Center for the Arts. The event is free and open to the public.

“Camille Dungy’s seminal anthology of African-American environmental poetry, 'Black Nature,' redefined the American poetic canon. At the same time, her own volumes of poetry have enlarged

By Gail Hairston

Fourteen University of Kentucky undergraduate students -- one sophomore, two juniors and 11 seniors -- were recently awarded with Oswald Research and Creativity Program awards by the Office of Undergraduate Research.  

Students submitted research posters in six categories -- Biological Sciences; Design, including architecture, landscape architecture and interior design; Fine Arts, including film, music, photography, painting and sculpture; Humanities, from creative and critical-research approaches; Physical and Engineering Sciences; and Social Sciences. Winners in each category received $350; second place finishers received $200.

The 2017

By Whitney Hale

Paige A. Dauparas, a University of Kentucky accounting, English and Spanish literature and culture senior from Mokena, Illinois, has been selected to present the 23rd annual Edward T. Breathitt Undergraduate Lectureship in the Humanities at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, in the UK Athletics Auditorium at William T. Young Library. Dauparas' free public lecture focuses on diversity and how the search for individuality impacts unity.

The Breathitt Lectureship was named for an outstanding UK alumnus who showed an

By Kody Kiser

Storytelling is an art as old as human civilization. It can cross or establish boundaries, unite or divide cultures, and give context and meaning to our shared existence. Throughout its history, the University of Kentucky has fostered a rich culture of storytelling. Long considered a cradle of Kentucky authors, the university is making headway in supporting the work of authors more representative of the national scene.

On this episode of "Behind the Blue," we welcome one of those authors, UK Assistant Professor of English Hannah Pittard. Pittard has published three novels: 2011’s "The Fates Will Find Their Way," which received a favorable review by The New York Times Book Review. Her second novel, "Reunion" (in 2014), was an editor’s choice by the Chicago Tribune. In 2016, she released "Listen To Me," and is now completing work on

By Whitney Hale

University of Kentucky senior Rachel Dixon, of Lexington, was recently named a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. Dixon, an English and writing, rhetoric and digital studies major, will interview for the prestigious scholarship that funds graduate study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Rhodes Scholars are chosen not only for their outstanding scholarly achievements, but for their character, commitment to others and to the common good, and for their potential for leadership in whatever domains their careers may lead.

A UK Honors College member and former ambassador, Dixon is a

By Kody Kiser

“Affrilachia” is the word coined by poet Frank X Walker to signify the importance of the African-American presence in Appalachia, and he's a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets. Walker says he has "accepted the responsibility of challenging the notion of a homogeneous all-white literary landscape in this region.”

By Samantha Almedia

Two University of Kentucky students received nationwide recognition at Confucius Institute U.S. Center’s inaugural National Honor Gala held Sept. 24.

David Cole and Rachel Lietzow, both members of the UK Honors Program, were acknowledged among eight individuals from across the nation with a People to People Exchange Award for creating cross-cultural connections and initiatives between China and the United States.

"Never have I found myself surrounded by people who I couldn't verbally understand, but I wholeheartedly felt a connection toward," said Cole, honoree and UK senior majoring in English. A native of Monticello, Kentucky, Cole participated

By Gail Hairston