Billingsley Wins Booker Worthen Literary Prize

September 19, 2005
A Prized Evening Honors Three Arkansas Authors
by Carrie Snodgrass

The Central Arkansas Library System will host A Prized Evening honoring three Arkansas authors on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the Main Library’s Darragh Center.

Shirley Abbott will receive the Porter Prize for her works of nonfiction, Constance Merritt will receive the Porter Prize for her works of poetry and Carolyn Billingsley will receive the Worthen Prize for her book, Communities of Kinship: Antebellum Families and the Settlement of the Cotton Frontier. Events for the evening will be award presentations, readings, book signings and a catered reception.

The Porter Literary Fund Literary Prize is presented annually to an Arkansas writer who has accomplished a substantial and impressive body of work that merits enhanced recognition. The prize was established in memory of Ben Drew Kimpel, Ph.D., who asked that the prize be named for his mother, Gladys Crane Kimpel Porter. Established in 1984, the Porter Fund is a non-profit organization supporting Arkansas writers and poets. All contributions are tax-deductible and can be made by contacting Phillip McMath at (501) 396-5416. Co-founders of the Porter Prize are Jack Butler and Phillip McMath.

CALS honors the memory of William Booker Worthen, grandson of the founder of the former Worthen Bank and Trust Company and 22-year member of the CALS Board of Trustees, through the Booker-Worthen Prize Literary Prize. The award for the best work of either fiction or nonfiction for adults or children is presented annually to an author living in the CALS service area. The Booker Worthen Endowment was established in 1985 by friends and family of Booker Worthen. Contributions are tax-deductible and can be made by contacting the Central Arkansas Library System, 918-3086.

Tickets for A Prized Evening are $50 per person and proceeds support the CALS Endowment Fund. For information or to make a reservation, please call 918-3032.