By Matt Thacker
An English professor at U of L has received one of Kentucky’s highest honors in the literary arts.
This month, governor Ernie Fletcher named Sena Jeter Naslund, a professor at U of L since 1973, Poet Laureate of Kentucky. The governor appoints the Poet Laureate for a two-year term, which Naslund is expected to begin April 14. The position was created in 1991 to promote the literary arts in Kentucky.
“The purpose of the state’s laureate program is to honor outstanding Kentucky writers, and the council has made a fine choice in honoring Sena Naslund,” U of L’s director of Creative Writing Paul F. Griner said.
Despite its name, the position includes writers from all forms of creative literature.
“The term ‘poet’ is interpreted in its broadest sense. It includes any of the recognized literary forms: novels, short fiction and poetry,” Jeannie Lausche, press secretary for the governor, said.
Naslund has published six novels including national bestsellers “Ahab’s Wife: or, The Star-Gazer” (1999) and “Four Spirits” (2003). She currently has a contract with HarperCollins for a new novel about Marie Antoinette, the wife of Louis XVI.
“She has had a very extensive career in the literary arts and is well-known throughout the area and the country,” Lausche said.
Naslund has earned plenty of accolades for teaching as well. She directed U of L’s Creative Writing program for 12 years and received U of L’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1980 and the President’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Creative Activity in 2000. She presently teaches at both Spalding University and U of L part-time along with serving as editor for the literary journal The Louisville Review.
Griner said that much of Naslund’s work has been influenced by living in Kentucky. In fact, the main character of her critically acclaimed “Ahab’s Wife” grew up in Kentucky before moving away, a reversal of Naslund’s own life.
Naslund was born and grew up in Birmingham, Ala., where she earned a B.A. at Birmingham-Southern College. She went on to earn her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop before moving to Louisville.
“In the ancient Greek classical tradition, the outstanding writer was crowned with a wreath made of green laurel leaves. I’m deeply honored to be appointed by Governor Ernie Fletcher as Kentucky Poet Laureate,” Naslund said.
“I hope to use the position to promote literacy and diversity in the literary arts; I believe in the interrelatedness of literature and all the arts, and I wish to celebrate the contribution contemporary writing makes to the enjoyment and understanding of life in current society.”
She said U of L President James Ramsey plans to introduce her to the Board of Trustees and the Board of Overseers, and a large banner will be displayed at Gardiner Hall stating that the Poet Laureate is on the U of L faculty.
“I’m thrilled that U of L honors achievement in many areas, not only in athletics but also in the literary arts,” Naslund added.
An excerpt from ‘Four Spirits’ by Sena Jeter Naslund
In the woods, a child is firing a pistol.
“Aim at the trees,” her father tells her because she is five years old.
“Now fire,” Stella’s father murmurs in his liquid-kind doctor voice.
Just her finger should ever so slightly pull the trigger toward her, toward them, but what if if if if if if if if the pistol has its own will and the barrel looks up above the green woods, up toward the sky that has turned pale, hardly blue at all anymore, and if the pistol continues to rear up, what if the stallion-gun rears past return, arcs backward till the horse is going to land on its own back, and it’s us all soft in our skin bags with hair on our head, us in the gun’s sights, and we are the target when the bullet races down the barrel?
What happens to a bullet fired?
