The James Baker Hall Foundation is proud to announce a collaboration with Christopher McCurry, owner of Workhorse LLC, a community publishing company that was created to make studying and publishing more accessible to working writers. The partnership with the foundation will provide funding for four programs.

Kentucky’s Writer’s Day is a yearly celebration of literary artists in the Commonwealth. The event was created by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1990 to be observed on or around April 24th which coincides with the birthday of Robert Penn Warren, a renowned Kentucky writer. Warren, a native of Todd County, was awarded three Pulitzer Prizes and served as the United States first Poet Laureate.

April 14, 1935 – June 25, 2009

It is hard to believe we are approaching the first year of our annual book award announcement. The foundation has grown significantly over the year in outreach and programming. But it is now time to celebrate and we would love for you to join us.

Wes Houp is a Central Kentucky kid at heart. He grew up in High Bridge outside of Lexington and attended Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky. He somewhat stumbled into college, but it was at Asbury that he developed his love of poetry.

Accents Publishing will be celebrating their 15th anniversary this year as an independent publisher. Accents Publishing was the foundation’s partner in our first book award and will be publishing Wes Houp’s book of poetry, Strung Out Along the Endless Branch.

Katerina Stoykova, founder, was born and raised in Bulgaria, but immigrated to the United States in 1995 and has been in Kentucky since 2004. While trained as a software engineer and in project management, she knew her heart was in writing. She began writing as an 8 year old girl in Bulgaria, and that love followed her to Kentucky.