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Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Wendell Berry getting National Humanities Medal

Author, poet, farmer, environmentalist and rural icon Wendell Berry is among the 19 Americans being honored for their work in the arts and humanities at a White House ceremony today. Berry, who lives in Henry County, Kentucky, and has written more than 40 books, will receive the National Humanities Medal. Berry was among Kentucky environmentalists who staged a sit-in at the Kentucky governor's office last month to protest mountaintop-removal coal mining. (James Crisp photo for The Courier-Journal of Berry looking out a door of the Capitol during the sit-in) Berry has "spent his career exploring our relationship with the land and community," the White House said in a news release.

Other National Humanities Award honorees include National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates and Pulitzer Prize winners Philip Roth and Gordon Wood. Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird," and Meryl Streep, an academy award winning actress, are among the recipients of the National Medal of Arts. Berry is expected to attend the White House ceremony, which will be streamed online here, at 1:45 p.m. (Read more)

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