Meet the First Winner of the James Baker Hall Foundation Book Award!

Wesley was born and raised in High Bridge and Wilmore, Kentucky. Along with his father and

brother, he farmed tobacco along the Kentucky River in southern Jessamine County for most of

his life. Education took him away to various stops and he received a Ph.D in Composition and

Rhetoric from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Over the years he has taught English to undergraduate and graduate students as well serving as Writing Center Director at several universities. For the better part of the past decade, he has worked for Tennessee State Parks.

His poems have appeared in numerous journals and he has also published scholarly articles, but by no means does his talent end with writing. He is also a blues musician with a special interest in early twentieth century acoustic blues and he performs regularly with the Galliniperious Consortium, a group of musicians who play old time jug, fiddle and blues tunes on the back of a 33 Ford BB flatbed!

“We couldn’t be more pleased with our first effort for the book award,” states Managing Director Larry Pemble. “And we learned from Wesley that as a young aspiring poet, he actually had read with my father and attended workshops that Jim taught.” Larry continues, “ We couldn’t have done this without Accents Publishing and their leadership and of course, many thanks to Greg Pape who served as our judge. We are grateful to them both for the success of our first effort”

For his winning submission, Wesley will receive a $3,000 award from the foundation and a publishing contract with Accents Publishing with his book of poems being published in 2025.