Mr. Wendell Berry of Kentucky

Don't Forget: Mr. Wendell Berry Goes to Washington on Monday

Wendell E. Berry, noted poet, essayist, novelist, farmer, and conservationist, will deliver the 2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities on Monday, April 23, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

The annual lecture, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.

Described as a “21-st century Henry David Thoreau,” Wendell Berry has spent his career meditating on our relationship and responsibility to the land and community. He is the author of more than forty books of poems, essays, short stories, and novels, many of which draw on the traditional rural values of Berry’s native Kentucky.  Read more about Wendell Berry and the Jefferson Lecture here.

via www.neh.gov

"Wendell Berry to receive Tulsa library's Helmerich award"

 

He's either a leftist or a right-wing extremist, a liberal revolutionary or a retrograde conservative.

"I've been called a communist and a fascist," admits Wendell Berry. "But I'm glad to avoid all of the pigeonholes."

A farmer, a poet, an essayist and an activist - not to mention a thoroughly nice guy - he simply transcends the political spectrum, challenging conventional wisdom even as he appeals to age-old customs.

The author of more than 50 published works, Berry will receive this year's Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award from the Tulsa Library Trust.

via www.tulsaworld.com

"To receive the Distinguished Author Award, Berry will come to Tulsa for a black-tie dinner Dec. 7, followed by a free public appearance at 10:30 a.m., Dec. 8, at the Central Library."

Read more at www.tulsaworld.com

Wendell E. Berry named 41st Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities

WASHINGTON (February 6, 2012) — Wendell E. Berry, noted poet, essayist, novelist, farmer, and conservationist, will deliver the 2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. The annual lecture, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), is the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.

“Wendell Berry is an American treasure whose prose and poetry have— with subtlety, intelligence, and conviction—helped open our eyes to the importance of respecting and living with nature,” said NEH Chairman Jim Leach. “Tilling the land of his Kentucky forebears, he is a 21st-century Henry David Thoreau.”

Berry will present the 41^st Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities on Monday, April 23, 2012 at 7:30 PM at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. In the lecture, “It All Turns on Affection,” Berry will discuss man’s interaction with nature, as depicted in history, philosophy, and literature.

via www.neh.gov

 

Request tickets HERE.

Washington Post article HERE.

Wendell Berry is the 2012 Paideia Prize Winner from the Circe Institute

After keeping it a secret for a few weeks, we’re very excited to announce the winner of the 2012 Russell Kirk Paideia Prize, presented at our conference annually to an educator who has dedicated his or her life to the cultivation of wisdom and virtue. This year’s winner is:

Mr. Wendell Berry 

 

The 2012 Russell Kirk Paideia Prize-giving banquet will take place on Friday, July 20th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Lousiville, Kentucky. This formal occasion will celebrate the life and work of Mr. Berry and his dedication to the cultivation of mind, body, and soul. In his writings and teaching – at the University level as well as at Highlands Latin School in Kentucky – Mr. Berry’s work is richly influenced by the classical idea of harmony and his insistance that education done right is education done in community is a truth that all educators must take seriously.

via circeinstitute.com

Wendell Berry at the Cambridge Forum, 10.20.11

 

There is no information given about this video, but it appears to be of Mr. Berry's presentation last night at the Cambridge Forum, where he received Pen New England's annual Howard Zinn “People Speak” Award.

Honors for Wendell Berry

On THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2011 at 7 p.m, join PEN NEW ENGLAND and CAMBRIDGE FORUM to honor  poet, WENDELL BERRY, as he receives PEN NEW ENGLAND’s annual Howard Zinn “People Speak” Award.  WENDELL BERRY will discuss civil disobedience in defense of the environment and read from his poetry.  He will be joined by  environmental activist, BILL MCKIBBEN, to talk about their recent arrests: MCKIBBEN in D.C. protesting the proposed pipe line bringing Canadian tar sands oil to a refinery on the U.S. Gulf and BERRY protesting Kentucky mountain top removal.  Boston Globe op-ed columnist RENEE LOTH will moderate the public discussion that follows.

via www.harvardsquare.com

See HERE also.

UK notes Wendell Berry honor

President Barack Obama awarded former University of Kentucky student and creative writing professor Wendell Berry one of only 10 National Humanities Medals for outstanding achievements in history, literature, education and cultural policy.
 
Berry is renowned for his achievements as a poet, novelist, farmer and conservationist. The author of more than 40 books, Berry has spent his career exploring our relationship with the land and the community.
 
Berry received bachelor's and master's degrees at UK, later returning for two separate stints of teaching as well. UK Provost Kumble Subbaswamy said the university community is proud of Berry's latest national honor.

"We take particular pride in the award of a National Humanities Medal to Wendell Berry, our alumnus and revered former faculty member," Subbaswamy said. "As an acclaimed author and conservationist, he is an inspiration to all who come into contact with him and his literary work."

via www.as.uky.edu

Grist: "USDA chief flatters industrial ag while Obama honors its greatest critic"

A year and a half ago, I complained that President Obama's food and ag policy was "giving me whiplash," because the administration seemed to keep zigzagging between progressive change and the agrichemical status quo.  

Since then, a definite pattern has emerged: The administration puts real policy power behind the status quo -- see, for example, the recent deregulation of controversial genetically modified crops -- and deploys what the political scientists call "soft power" (usually through Michelle Obama) to hector people to eat a little better and chide corporations to clean up their junk food a bit.

Two events last week offered a nice snapshot of what might be called Obama's dual policy on ag.

via www.grist.org

Reece: "Coal industry 'gift' cost UK a celebration"

Last week at the White House, President Barack Obama awarded Kentucky author Wendell Berry the National Humanities Medal.

Last week on the campus of the University of Kentucky, work began in earnest on the Wildcat Coal Lodge.

Because of the latter, UK can claim no institutional pride in the former. And that is sad.

Because President Lee T. Todd Jr. and the UK Board of Trustees agreed to insert the word "coal" into the name of the new men's basketball dorm, in exchange for $7 million from a group of coal operators, Berry announced last summer that he was withdrawing his papers from UK and severing all ties with the university.

via www.kentucky.com

Louisville Editorial: WB is "Conscience of the Commonwealth"

Surely the 76-year-old Kentuckian's life work exemplifies the President's statement that “art, literature, works of history, speak to our condition and they affirm our desire for something more and something better.” Tools of change and of revolution, Mr. Obama said, can be pickaxes and hammers but they also can be brushes and pens and cameras and guitars — and syllables in poems that move the heart and the needle of public policy.

via www.courier-journal.com