Comments on receiving the Lindberg award

I am honored and pleased to receive this award. I am humbled by the names of those who received it before me. This award recognizes, I think, my work as an editor and promoter of writers in this state. I want to acknowledge all the people and organizations that have also engaged in the same work because I am only one of many. My mother was the first person who encouraged me, as a young reader, to pay attention to Georgia writers.  Stan Lindberg’s effort as editor of the Georgia Review, and his Roots in Georgia symposium in 1984, helped me begin to think of the importance of writers in this state. It means a great deal to be receiving an award that is named for him. I am indebted to Stan, and to Steve Corey after him, for all their good work. I am grateful to writers in this state and elsewhere, to the Georgia Room librarians, and to my colleagues in the English department and elsewhere for making me aware of worthy writers and books. Throughout my career I have had the privilege of working with the University of Georgia Press, the UGA libraries, the New Georgia Encyclopedia, and the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. The UGA Press in particular has been a valued partner. They along with journals such as the Five Points Review, the Decatur Book Festival, the Georgia Center for the book, the Georgia Writers Association and their annual Georgia Author of the Year awards, the Georgia Writers Museum and many other teachers and writers and readers and festivals and organizations and museums and libraries have contributed so much to bringing the diverse range of writers in this state to the attention of readers. 

Because the Friends of Georgia Libraries are one of the sponsors of this event, I want to say a few words about books, and about libraries. Libraries in this state make books by Georgia writers available to the reading public, host events, and in other ways keep the spirit and the letter of good writing alive. On their shelves many readers, young and old, encounter the writers of this state and the nation and the world for the first time. At a time when the value of literature has come under attack from some quarters, it is important that we do all we can to support and defend the work that libraries and librarians do. From the first time I entered the College Park Georgia Public Library as a child, libraries for me have been free and unfettered places of discovery.  Through books I found there, in my high school library, in the Carnegie Library in Atlanta, and the UGA libraries here in Athens, I learned about my state, our nation, its history, science, the universe, and myself. Although many people over the years recommended books that I should read, no one has ever told me what I couldn’t read. No one prevented me from reading. No one threatened the librarians at the libraries I visited. Books of all sorts, and libraries, are a cornerstone of our democracy and our nation, and of what it means to be enlightened and civilized. We need to make sure that everyone, especially young readers, continues to have free access to them. 

Before I finish, I want to mention one person who had great relevance to the Lindberg Award and who was always encouraging to me and many others. I am speaking of Terry Kay, whose writing, kindness, and belief in the importance of literature did so much to enrich the writing environment in this state. He was a generous man whose absence I and many others mourn. 

Once again, I am deeply grateful for this award.  I thank the Stanley W. Lindberg Award Foundation Board of Directors, the Friends of Georgia Libraries, and Toby Graham and the UGA Special Collections Libraries for sponsoring this event. I especially thank my wife Tricia and my family members for their presence here tonight, and to all of you for being here as well. Thank you.