The Porter Fund Literary Prize, founded in 1984, has spent 36 years recognizing Arkansas writers. The Prize is presented annually to an Arkansas writer who has accomplished a substantial and impressive body of work that merits enhanced recognition. The $2,000 prize makes it one of the state’s most lucrative as well as most prestigious literary awards.
In 2019 the Porter Fund received a generous grant from The Roy and Christine Sturgis Charitable and Educational Trust. This grant allowed the Porter Fund gather together a single written work from each past winner of the Porter Prize as well as Porter Fund Lifetime Achievement award winners and the Porter Fund founders. These works – novels, non-fiction books, books of poetry and plays – make up the Porter Fund Collection. Seven different libraries in the state of Arkansas will receive a full Porter Fund Collection. Those libraries are. The Central Arkansas Library System - Little Rock Library - University of Arkansas - Fayetteville Library - University of Central Arkansas - Conway Library - Arkansas State University - Jonesboro Library - Ouachita Baptist University - Arkadelphia Library - John Brown University - Siloam Springs Library - Little Rock Central High School - Little Rock
The Porter Prize was founded in 1984 by novelist Jack Butler and novelist and lawyer Phil McMath to honor Dr. Ben Kimpel. Butler and McMath were students of Kimpel, noted professor of English at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. At Kimpel’s request, the prize is named in honor of Kimpel’s mother, Gladys Crane Kimpel Porter.
Eligibility for the annual Porter Fund Literary Prize requires an Arkansas connection. Those honored are writers without high-profile national reputations, but who have produced significant amounts of quality material. The list of Porter Fund Prize winners includes Mara Leveritt, Morris Arnold, Kevin Brockmeier and Jo McDougall, the current Poet Laureate of Arkansas.
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