The 小蝌蚪APP will award its writer-in-residence emeritus and internationally acclaimed author Ernest J. Gaines an honorary Doctorate of Letters during Spring 2008 Commencement ceremonies. The award will given during commencement for Graduate School in the Cajundome at 5:30 p.m.
小蝌蚪APP We小蝌蚪APP檝e been so honored to have such an high-caliber author at our university for so long,小蝌蚪APP said UL Lafayette President Ray Authement. 小蝌蚪APP淚t seems only right to honor Ernest Gaines with this distinguished award.小蝌蚪APP
Most recently, UL Lafayette announced plans for the creation of the Ernest J. Gaines Center in Dupr茅 Library on campus.
Gaines is one of the most significant American authors of the 20th century and is most widely known for his novels 小蝌蚪APP淭he Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,小蝌蚪APP 小蝌蚪APP淎 Lesson Before Dying小蝌蚪APP and 小蝌蚪APP淎 Gathering of Old Men.小蝌蚪APP
Gaines' work has been translated into at least 17 languages and has earned him a National Book Critics Circle Award, National Humanities Medal and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, popularly known as 小蝌蚪APP渢he genius award.小蝌蚪APP 小蝌蚪APP淎 Lesson Before Dying小蝌蚪APP was chosen by talk show host Oprah Winfrey as an Oprah Book Club selection in 1997.
The author's relationship with UL Lafayette began in 1981 when he accepted an invitation to serve as a visiting professor of creative writing. In 1984, Gaines officially became the university's writer-in-residence; he retired in 2004.
The Ernest J. Gaines Center will be built in a now-vacant section of the third floor of the library. UL Lafayette will provide $250,000 to establish the center. Future funding sources include donations, grants and royalties from a book about Gaines to be published by the university's Center for Louisiana Studies
The author has already donated some papers, manuscripts and memorabilia, such as handwritten drafts of some of his published work and the pens he used to write 小蝌蚪APP淭he Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman小蝌蚪APP and 小蝌蚪APP淥f Love and Dust.小蝌蚪APP They are in the Jefferson Caffery Reading Room of Dupr茅 Library's Special Collections Department.
The center will coordinate research related to the him and possibly other African-American writers in Louisiana. It also will pursue publishing ventures in cooperation with UL Lafayette's Center for Louisiana Studies.
Gaines' work has been the subject of 15 doctoral dissertations at various universities. More than 200 scholarly articles have been written and 12 books published about him.