bell hooks writing contest winners to be announced Sunday

A ceremony to announce and recognize winners in the bell hooks Memorial Writing Contest is set for 4 p.m. Sunday, March 24, at The Performing Arts Center at Christian County Middle School, 215 Glass Ave.

Winning selections will be read to the audience — and Chassity Mumford, who starred last weekend in “Cinderella” at the Alhambra, will sing during the program, said an organizer for the Christian County Literacy Council. The public is invited.

gwenda motley reading in front of bell hooks projection — Gwenda Motley reads from her sister bell hooks’ book, “Belonging: A Culture of Place,” during a ceremony on March 19, 2023, at The Performing Arts Center, where winners in a writing contest named for bell hooks were recognized. (Hoptown Chronicle photo by Jennifer P. Brown)

Two speakers have been invited to address the group — a representative from Berea College, where bell hooks concluded her academic career, and Alissa Keller, executive director of the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County. Keller is a member of the bell hooks Legacy Group, which has led efforts to recognize bell hooks, a Hopkinsville native, in her hometown.

Born here as Gloria Jean Watkins in 1952, she earned international acclaim for her writings on feminism, race and class. She took the pen name bell hooks from her great-grandmother. She wrote more than 30 books.

This year marks the literacy council’s third writing contest in memory of bell hooks, who died on Dec. 15, 2021, at her home in Berea of renal failure. She was 69.

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