Wendell Berry | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Berry in December 2011 | |
| Born | August 5, 1934 Henry County, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Occupation |
|
| Education | University of Kentucky (BA, MA) |
| Genre | Fiction, poetry, essays |
| Subject | Agriculture, rural life, community |
| Relatives | John M. Berry (brother) |
Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer.[1] Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays of The Gift of Good Land (1981) and The Unsettling of America (1977). His attention to the culture and economy of rural communities is also found in the novels and stories of Port William, such as A Place on Earth (1967), Jayber Crow (2000), and That Distant Land (2004).
He is an elected member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, a recipient of the National Humanities Medal, and the Jefferson Lecturer for 2012. He is also a 2013 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and, since 2014, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.[2] Berry was named the recipient of the 2013 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award.[3] On January 28, 2015, he became the first living writer to be inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.[4]
- ^ "Wendell E. Berry biography". National Endowment for the Humanities. Archived from the original on May 16, 2019. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
- ^ "Academy members". American Academy of Arts and Letters. Archived from the original on October 8, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
- ^ "Dayton Literary Peace Prize names distinguished achievement award recipient". Dayton Daily News. August 12, 2013. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
- ^ Eblen, Tom (January 31, 2015). "At Hall of Fame ceremony, Wendell Berry laments 'public silence' on Ky. writers' work". Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on May 11, 2015. Retrieved March 24, 2015.