Diane Gilliam receives Chaffin Award

Morehead State University�s Department of English, Foreign Languages and Philosophy and the Kentucky Folk Art Center (KFAC) have announced that poet Diane Gilliam, author of Kettle Bottom, a collection of poems written in the voices of people living in coal camps in the 1920s, is the recipient of the 2008 Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing.

A celebration honoring Gilliam will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, at the Kentucky Folk Art Center. She will read from her work, followed by music and a reception as part of the celebration.

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Gilliam�s was the daughter of Appalachian outmigration (her father from Johnson County in east Kentucky; her mother from Mingo County, W.Va.). She earned a Ph.D. degree in romance languages and literatures from The Ohio State University and an MFA degree from Warren Wilson College.

Her other books include Recipe for Blackberry Cake (Wick Poetry Series from Kent State University Press 1999) and One of Everything (Cleveland State University Poetry Center 2003).

Kettle Bottom and Gilliam won the 2005 Ohioana Library Association Book of the Year Award in Poetry, a Pushcart Prize and also an (2005) American Bookseller Association Book Sense Pick for the Top 10 Poetry Books.

The Chaffin Award, which includes a cash prize of $1,000, recognizes outstanding Appalachian writers in all genres. Past winners of this award include Erik Reece, Sharon Hatfield, Ron Rash, John Sparks, Silas House, Crystal Wilkinson and Denise Giardina.

Additional information is available by calling KFAC at (606) 783-2204 or the Department of English, Foreign Languages and Philosophy at (606)783-2185.

H/t Kentucky Literary News