LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 4, 2018) – Kentucky Humanities will “Paint the Town Red” in Guthrie, Ky. to honor native son and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet Robert Penn Warren at 11 a.m. April 24 at the Robert Penn Warren Birthplace Museum.
Warren, nicknamed “Red,” plays an integral part in a new literacy initiative spearheaded by Kentucky Humanities in partnership with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This announcement also coincides with the 27th annual Kentucky Writers’ Day being celebrated with activities across the commonwealth.
Scheduled to give remarks at the April 24 event are Kentucky Humanities Executive Director Bill Goodman, Guthrie Mayor Scott Marshall and Mona Frederick, executive director of the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. Goodman will provide details on the statewide literacy initiative focusing on Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1947 followed by an Academy Award for Best Picture for the adaptation of the book in 1949.
“We’re honored to be making this important literacy and humanities announcement from the birthplace of one of Kentucky’s most prolific writers,” said Goodman. “All the King’s Men has implications for the times in which we currently live, and Robert Penn Warren’s influence not only on authors and poets but on the whole of Kentucky made it a perfect fit with the literary initiative that will be carried out throughout the commonwealth in the year to come.”
At a time when funding for the humanities has been in peril, Kentucky Humanities applied for and received a grant called the “Democracy and the Informed Citizen” Initiative. The grant, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils, seeks to deepen the public’s knowledge and appreciation of the vital connections between democracy, the humanities, journalism, and an informed citizenry.
“In the weeks prior to the event, all things ‘Red’ will be in full force for the town of Guthrie,” said Marshall. “From businesses dressing their windows with red signage, city lampposts displaying red banners, students in Todd County elementary and middle schools taking part in a bookmark contest, to our local high school band participating during the event itself, we want to honor a man known around the world as literary giant.”
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