UL Lafayette小蝌蚪APP檚 Writer-in-Residence Emeritus Ernest J. Gaines, whose novel 小蝌蚪APP淎 Lesson Before Dying小蝌蚪APP won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, received the 2010 Aspen Prize for Literature. The award is given by the Aspen Writer小蝌蚪APP檚 Foundation, Colorado小蝌蚪APP檚 oldest nonprofit literary organization and a program of the Aspen Institute.
Lisa Consiglio, the foundation小蝌蚪APP檚 executive director, praised Gaines on the organization小蝌蚪APP檚 web site. 小蝌蚪APP淭here was no contest in selecting this year小蝌蚪APP檚 candidate for the Aspen Prize for Literature. Ernest Gaines 小蝌蚪APP who represents the absolute best of Southern writing today and is revered by writers and readers alike 小蝌蚪APP was at the top of our list from the very beginning. We are honored that he has chosen to accept this award.小蝌蚪APP
Gaines accepted the award via a video teleconference link during the foundation小蝌蚪APP檚 Summer Words Literary Festival in Aspen, Colo. Its theme was 小蝌蚪APP淐rossroads: A Literary Intersection of the American South.小蝌蚪APP
His best-known work,小蝌蚪APP淎 Lesson Before Dying,小蝌蚪APP was an Oprah Book Club pick in 1997 and was included the National Endowment for the Arts小蝌蚪APP national reading program, The Big Read, in 2008. The novel tells the story of a young black man wrongly condemned to Louisiana小蝌蚪APP檚 electric chair by a white jury in 1948 and the teacher who tries to help him meet death with dignity.
Gaines小蝌蚪APP bibliography includes nine works of fiction, including 小蝌蚪APP淭he Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman小蝌蚪APP and 小蝌蚪APP淎 Gathering of Old Men.小蝌蚪APP His latest publication is 小蝌蚪APP淢ozart and Leadbelly,小蝌蚪APP a collection of stories and essays on writing.
The Ernest J. Gaines Center is currently under construction in UL Lafayette小蝌蚪APP檚 Edith Garland Dupr茅 Library. The center will coordinate activities related to research and scholarship on Gaines小蝌蚪APP work and will hold the complete collection of his papers, manuscripts and all published translations of his work.