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Sometimes good surprises do come along. After my book, “Kentucky Waltz,” was rejected by the Bluegrass Book Festival and largely ignored by reviewers everywhere, Kentucky Monthly magazine gave the book a favorable write-up. Then came the real shock. An e-mail from the publisher, Charlie Hughes of Wind Publications, informed me that I’d won the first place fiction Kentucky Literary Award from the Southern Kentucky Book Fest in Bowling Green. There was, he added, a substantial cash award. In the writing world, “substantial” usually means something between $50 and $500, but I finally went online to see just how much cash the award carries with it. I almost fainted. The Kentucky Literary Award is $1,000. The drive to Bowling Green got a lot easier. Even at today’s gas prices. To win an award I didn’t know I’d been nominated for, and to find out it came with cash, made the Book Fest a memorable event. At my age, literary awards are few and far between. Most go to younger writers who are breaking new ground, though some recognitions are for long term excellence, but the Kentucky Literary Awards are for the book, with judges who don’t know the authors. The award is not for being “Appalachian” or anything else except the best book nominated for this year’s award. Of course I agree with the judges. “Kentucky Waltz” is new and old writing, and lots of the individual stories won awards on their own. One won the first place fiction award for 1984 from the Catholic Press Association, another was the first place winner in Morehead State University’s “Inscape” magazine. One story won the Plattner Award for Fiction from Berea College’s “Appalachian Heritage” magazine. Some of the stories first appeared in “”Kentucky Waltz.” All but one of the stories are set in northeast Kentucky, and are largely based on reality. Much of the credit for the Kentucky Literary Award goes to Wind publisher Charlie Hughes, who published the book and then nominated it for the award. He forgot to tell me what he’d done, which worked out great. Two more of Charlie’s books were named finalists for the fiction award, an unprecedented clean sweep for a publisher, and both authors – Billy Clark and Normandi Ellis – are good friends. As Charlie Hughes said when he notified us, a three-way tie would have been good. Not quite as good, though, to be perfectly honest. It’s good to have a new plaque to have to figure out where to hang. The others, like their owner, are getting some age on them. We’re in the talking stages of redoing my little home office, with real shelves, clean walls, grounded outlets, and a better work station, and there’s the possibility that my office might become a second bathroom with me and computer, guns, plaques, clippings, and books relegated to another space. But I won’t use any of the award money for that project. My wife is thinking about a new flat screen TV. I’m thinking about a Colt .22 Scout revolver. The IRS gets a third off the top, and maybe the rest for last year’s taxes. It really doesn’t matter. The recognition is the real big thing. Ask any author. We’ll certainly take the money, enjoy it, and feel like we’ve earned it, but the best part if the winning.
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As a writer of fiction, poetry, history, essay, and humor, Garry Barker has earned much recognition and numerous awards. His University of Tennessee Press books are The Handcraft Revival in Southern Appalachia, 1930-1990, and Notes From A Native Son: Essays On The Appalachian Experience. Barker wrote a series of entries for the Appalachian Encyclopedia, and his works are included in anthologies, teaching guides, and textbooks. Over the decades Barker has published hundreds of magazine articles, essays, editorials, and works of fiction, mostly about Kentucky and the mountain regions. |
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Garry Barker’s HEAD OF THE HOLLER V |