Two Literary Prizes to Be Awarded at A Prized Evening 

Two Arkansas authors, Marvin Schwartz and Sandy Longhorn, will be honored at A Prized Evening, the annual awarding of the Worthen and Porter LiteraryPrizes, on Thursday, October 27, at 6:30 p.m., in the Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Main Library Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street. A book signing and reception will follow the presentation, which is free and open to the public. Reservations are appreciated, but not required. RSVP to 501-918-3033.

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies will award the Booker Worthen Literary Prize to Marvin Schwartz for his book, We Wanna Boogie.  Marvin Schwartz is a Little Rock author and poet who holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Poetry from the University of Arkansas.We Wanna Boogie, published by Butler Center Books, tells the history of early rock and roll in Arkansas and its origins in black and white musical styles and in the Arkansas Delta. The book focuses on the history of Newport (Jackson County) and the life of Newport native and rock and roll pioneer Sonny Burgess.

Sandy Longhorn will receive the Porter Fund Literary Prize in recognition of her substantial and impressive body of work. Longhorn is the author of three books of poetry:The Alchemy of My Mortal Form, The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths, and Blood Almanac. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Arkansas and has taught at the University of Arkansas Monticello and Pulaski Technical College. Currently, she is a faculty member at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) where she teaches in the undergraduate creative writing program and for the Arkansas Writers MFA Program. She was recently named director of the C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference at UCA.

The Worthen Prize was established by the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) in 1999 in memory of William Booker Worthen, a longtime supporter of the public library and a twenty-two-year member of CALS Board of Trustees. It is presented annually for the best work by an author or editor living in the CALS service area. The Porter Fund was established in 1985 by Jack Butler and Phillip McMath in honor of Dr. Ben Drew Kimpel, who requested the prize be named for his mother, Gladys Crane Kimpel Porter.

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies is a department of CALS promoting the study and appreciation of Arkansas history and culture. For more information, visitwww.butlercenter.org or call 501-918-3033.