Mississippi Humanities Council Executive Director Dr. Barbara Carpenter was among the panelists who recommended finalists for the Mississippi Poet Laureate. Gov. Barbour selected Trethewey in the final days before his term ended.

Trethewey currently holds the position of Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. A native of Gulfport with a master of fine arts degree from the University of Massachusetts, “She has received national and international acclaim for her poetry that is, often, a tribute to the state of Mississippi and, more specifically, the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” said Gov. Barbour.

When notified of her selection, Trethewey stated, “It’s an honor to have been named Poet Laureate of my native state – the place that made me a writer – and I am delighted to serve the citizens of Mississippi by promoting our rich and ongoing cultural and literary traditions.”

Trethewey received the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry, Native Guard, which honors African American soldiers who were stationed near Gulfport during the Civil War. Her other awards include the 1999 Cave Canem poetry prize, the 2001 Lillian Smith Award for Poetry and the 2001 and 2003 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Book Prizes. The American Library Association listed her second collection of poetry, Bellocq’s Ophelia, as a 2003 Notable Book. In 2008, Trethewey was presented with a Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts by the Mississippi Arts Commission for Literary Excellence.

The recipient of several fellowships including the National Endowment for the Arts and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Trethewey recently served as the James Weldon Johnson Fellow in African American Studies at the Beinecke Library at Yale University.

In her poem titled “Liturgy”, from Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Trethewey writes: “This is a memory of the Coast: to each his own/recollections, her reclamations, their/restorations, the return of the Coast.” She concludes: “This is my nostos – my pilgrimage to the Coast, my memory, my reckoning – / native daughter: I am the Gulf Coast.”

The Mississippi Poet Laureate program honors outstanding Mississippi writers and promotes the state’s literary arts. The governor appoints the Poet Laureate for a four-year term. The previous Mississippi Poet Laureate was Winifred Hamrick Farrar from Meridian. The first laureate was appointed by Governor Ross Barnett in 1963.

The selection committee panel included representatives from state agencies, institutions recommended by Governor Haley Barbour, and a published writer.  The members of the panel chaired by the Mississippi Arts Commission, were Barbara Carpenter, Mississippi Humanities Council; Tracy Carr Seabold, Mississippi Library Commission; Katie Blount, MS Department of Archives & History; Steve Yates, University Press of Mississippi; Jean Chamberlain, Jackson State University; and John Peede, University of Virginia. The panel recommended the names of the three finalists from which the Governor made his selection.

The annual awards celebration will begin with a reception and silent auction of “Mississippi Miscellany” at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m., at the Hilton Jackson Hotel, Jackson, MS. Tickets to the awards ceremony and banquet are $45 each or $340 for a table for eight and may be purchased by sending a check to the Mississippi Humanities Council, 3825 Ridgewood Road, Room 317, Jackson, MS 39211.

For more information, contact Elena Fougerousse, 601-432-6752 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The Mississippi Public Humanities Awards recognize outstanding contributions by Mississippians to the study and understanding of the humanities. This year’s award recipients are:

Humanities Scholar Award Dr. Elizabeth Anne Payne, Oxford, MS

Humanities Educator Award Rachel Jarman, Jackson, MS

Humanities Partner Award Beverly Norris and the Columbus Arts Council, Columbus, MS

Preserver of Mississippi Culture (2) Edie Greene and Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Jackson, MS Shugana Williams and the Katrina Research Center, Gulfport, MS

Special Recognition Award Forrest W. Galey, Jackson, MS

Thirty recipients of the 2011 Humanities Teacher Awards, which pay tribute to outstanding faculty in traditional humanities fields, will also be honored at the banquet.

“We are pleased to pay tribute to the outstanding work of these award recipients,” said Pamela Pridgen, chair of the Mississippi Humanities Council. “Their achievements are examples of the importance of the work of the Council as we advance appreciation for the humanities statewide and in widely diverse areas of human interest.”

This year marks the Council’s 40th year supporting programs and scholarship that enrich the lives of Mississippians. To kick off its anniversary year, the Council invites all Mississippians to join them at their 2012 Public Humanities Awards Dinner February 24 at the Hilton Jackson Hotel. There will be music and cake and plenty of merriment. The dinner will be the first of several celebrations the Council will host throughout the state to reflect on the impact our programs have had on Mississippians and also to pay tribute to the scholars and institutions that have partnered with us through the years.

A highlight of our anniversary year will be programs celebrating the release of our second Ethnic Heritage in Mississippi book. The first edition, published in 1992, Ethnic Heritage offered “a penetrating survey of the diverse ethnic heritage in the Magnolia State.” Ethnic Heritage in Mississippi: The Twentieth Century, whose release will coincide with the awards dinner, is examines twentieth-century immigration trends, explores the reemergence of ethnic identity, and undertakes case studies of current ethnic groups. Copies of the book will be available at the dinner, and a few – signed – will be given as door prizes. Dr. Barbara Carpenter, executive director of the Council, added, “The Humanities Council has always depended on our partners to suggest, support and to participate fully in our programs.  As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, we want to recognize those numerous and invaluable alliances with individuals and groups over four decades at the same time we honor our current and ongoing relationships — one more way to live up to our motto, that the humanities are for everyone.”

The Mississippi Humanities Council is funded by Congress through the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide public programs in traditional liberal arts disciplines to serve nonprofit groups in Mississippi.

Tickets for the Mississippi Humanities Council Public Humanities Awards ceremony and banquet are $45 each or $340 for a table of eight and may be purchased by sending a check to the Mississippi Humanities Council, 3825 Ridgewood Road, Room 317, Jackson, MS 39211. Information about the awards and the banquet is available at www.mshumanities.org or 601-432-6752.