Columbus Poet Kathy Fagan to Receive 2017 Raymond J. Hanley Award

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Columbus poet and professor of English at The Ohio State University, Kathy Fagan, has been selected as the ninth recipient of the Raymond J. Hanley Award. The annual $12,500 award from the Raymond J. Hanley Fund at The Columbus Foundation is given to an artist who has demonstrated a high level of achievement while working at least five years in the arts in any discipline. The award money is given without restriction, so that the artist can use it to further his or her career as needed. The winner is selected by an anonymous panel of judges, along with the trustees of the fund. The award is administered by the Arts Council and supported through the fund created upon Hanley’s death in 2006.

The award will be presented at a private reception in October.

Kathy Fagan is the Director of the MFA program in creative writing at The Ohio State University, where she has taught for 28 years. Her latest collection is Sycamore (Milkweed Editions, 2017). She is the author of the National Poetry Series selection The Raft (Dutton, 1985), the Vassar Miller Prize winner MOVING & ST RAGE (University of North Texas, 1999), The Charm (Zoo, 2002) and Lip (Carnegie Mellon UP 2009). Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, The Nation, The Kenyon Review, Slate, FIELD, Narrative and The New Republic, among other literary magazines, and is widely anthologized. Fagan is the recipient of awards and fellowships from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Frost Place, Ohioana and the Ohio Arts Council. She is currently Professor of English, Poetry Editor of OSU Press and Advisor to The Journal.

The Raymond J. Hanley Fund at The Columbus Foundation was created by past chairs of the Greater Columbus Arts Council board. The Fund continues the spirit of advocacy and partnership that the Arts Council has encouraged since its inception.

About the Greater Columbus Arts Council: Through vision and leadership, advocacy and collaboration, the Greater Columbus Arts Council supports art and advances the culture of the region. A catalyst for excellence and innovation, the Arts Council funds exemplary artists and arts organizations and provides programs, events and services of public value that educate and engage all audiences in our community. The Arts Council thanks the City of Columbus and the Ohio Arts Council for their continued support. www.gcac.org