James Baker Hall imparted his oldest son, Lawrence “Larry” Pemble, with the strong notion to “recognize that from where your bliss comes is where your energy comes … and be ready to receive it.” With that realization ingrained and received in his own life, Hall often said, “It’s not what you say; it’s what you do.”
Inspired, Pemble established the James Baker Hall Foundation (JBHF) in 2023. It might rightly be called a gift to Kentucky’s storied literary and artistic environment. Its James Baker Hall Book Award in Poetry, with prize money of $3,000 and a contract with Accents Publishing, is already a coveted literary recognition, gaining scores of submissions. The winner will be announced on Oct. 1. But there is much more. The work of the Foundation is off to a good start, with vast potential to foster the emergence of more James Baker Halls who might serve to enrich the state’s humanities footprint.
Pemble, who set aside a career guiding a successful health-care company in China to start the Foundation, knows from where his bliss comes these days—in honoring his father’s literary and artistic legacy.
And what an impressive legacy it is.
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Born in Lexington in 1935, Hall resided in the Scott County community of Sadieville with his wife, Mary Ann Taylor-Hall. The two were kindred spirits walking together down a creative path. She also is a successful author and today continues to garner respect for her work, which includes her 1995 debut novel Come and Go, Molly Snow. She joined her husband as a Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame inductee earlier this year.
Along with noted authors Wendell Berry, Gurney Norman, Bobbie Ann Mason and Ed McClanahan, Hall was counted as one of the state’s vaunted “Fab Five” of writers. All studied under Robert Hazel and Hollis Summers at the University of Kentucky and went on to illustrious writing careers. Hall wrote three novels and seven volumes of poetry and shot an estimated 75,000 photographs for display and publication.
Hall was appointed Kentucky Poet Laureate in 2001, and for 30 years, he taught and directed the creative writing program at UK, having a great and positive influence. He died in 2009 and was inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame in 2014.
In Kentucky and beyond, James Baker Hall’s words are quoted; his photographic images are shared; and the legions who knew him as a friend bear witness to his imprint on their lives.
Regarding his father’s teaching impact, Pemble remarked that he “was a very determined guy, always about making his art. Students all over the country now are doing what he taught them to do. Most of them, when you talk to them, say something like: ‘He changed my life.’ ”
Hall wrote many letters to his students, Pemble discovered, and when Pemble perused a collection of them at the Kentucky Historical Society, he was “astounded,” noting that any person who had a relationship with his father knew that “when he was with you, he was totally yours. He gave you his time, and he gave you his spirit.”
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The Foundation’s stated mission is “to celebrate the legacy of our great artistic heritage by providing direct support to Kentucky’s literary and visual creatives.” Emphasizing the values of character, creativity, collaboration and community, JBHF believes that creating art “gives testimony to the very fabric of life … [and] is the record of our existence, a vehicle to change individual lives and build communities.”
The 2024 inaugural program goals include bestowing the Book Award, funding Eastern Kentucky’s Hindman Settlement School to supplement its literary outreach to area high schools and its Ironwood Writers Studio, and collaborating with Bobbi Buchanan and the Write to Recover program that she directs at the Bullitt County Detention Center in Shepherdsville. Buchanan hopes to impart skills to help individuals overcome addiction. More program details will be announced at the Oct. 1 press conference at Spalding University in Louisville.
The executive committees of the Foundation include well-known Kentucky humanities influencers Bill Goodman, Frank X Walker, Maurice Manning, Tom Eblen, Christopher Meatyard and Guy Mendes. Katerina Stoykova heads Accents Publishing, which partners with JBHF on the Book Award.
Pemble uses the term “friend-raising” when describing JBHF’s current direction, and that starts with locating Hall’s former students. “It takes a lot of time,” he said. Many have been found, but Pemble knows there are more, and he would appreciate help in directing them to the Foundation. Along with that initiative, it also is searching for today’s emerging writers across the state. The Foundation is looking toward “partnering with people doing interesting work, successful work, that meets our mission standards,” Pemble said.
Visit jamesbakerhallfoundation.org for more information.