Miller Williams and Willard Gatewood devised a plan back in 1980. They believed that the University of Arkansas required an additional outlet for scholars who wanted to publish their work. They felt there were not enough opportunities for Arkansas writers to be published.
The University of Arkansas Press officially opened in December 1980 at the McIlroy house, just outside Fayetteville.
Brent Riffel wrote “A stylized representation of this house became UA Press logo”, for the Central Arkansas Library System’s Encyclopedia of Arkansas. “The press was initially without the resources and staff to produce its own work. Williams arranged with William King, the head of University of Missouri Press. Missouri would be the editing and production house.
The UA Press was not independent until 1983 when it began to function. The first title it published was “The Governors of Arkansas Essays in Political Biography,” which Timothy Donovan, a UA historian, released in June 1981.
As I peruse the 40-page 2022 catalogue, I find many books that I would like to purchase for myself, and others I would love to get as Christmas gifts. The quality and variety of the books are amazing. It’s hard to believe that this press has had such a turbulent history. It was the “little university presses that could”.
McIlroy House was set on fire in November 1983. The staff had to leave for nearly a year. The September 1987 fire in McIlroy House that destroyed many books and damaged a warehouse was also a factor. John White, the UA Chancellor, attempted to close down the publishing house in the late 1990s.
It also tells the story of some the most talented people who have ever lived in the area.
Arkansas and their determination for UA Press to succeed. Williams and Gatewood are at the top of this list.
Williams was one of America’s most prominent poets of the 20th century. He served 33 years as a UA Professor of English, foreign language and comparative literature for the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville was home to a number of talented writers, many from all over the country. Williams was an author, editor and translator of over 30 volumes of poetry, fiction, literary criticism, and literary criticism.
Williams was born at Hoxie in April 1930. Williams was born in April 1930 at Hoxie. He was the son and daughter of a Methodist minister. He graduated from Fort Smith high school in 1947. He entered Hendrix College, Conway, as a freshman. He then transferred across the city to what is now the University of Central Arkansas. He was then transferred again to Arkansas State University, Jonesboro. In 1952, Williams published “Et Cetera,” his first collection de poems.
In 1951, he received a bachelor’s degree from Jonesboro in biology. Two years later, he earned a masters degree at UA in zoology. He was a biology teacher for the next ten. Williams was a teacher at Millsaps College Jackson, Miss. He also briefly attended the University of Mississippi’s medical school.
Gatewood, his friend, wrote later that “in 1962, with Flannery’s help, Williams got a job as an English professor at Louisiana State University.” “Fourteen years later, Williams joined Loyola University New Orleans where he established and edited ‘The New Orleans Review. In 1970, he was back at UA as a member both of the English department or the graduate program in creative-writing.
His rise in literary stature was evident by the numerous honors he received since the 1950s. These included the Henry Bellman Award, Breadloaf Writers Conference Fellowship for Poetry in 1961, Harvard University’s Amy Lowell Traveling Fellowship for Poetry in 1963-64 and New York Arts Fund Award for 1970. Also, Fulbright Professorship at National University of Mexico, Prix de Rome for Literature 1976, and Charity Randall Citation for Contribution To Poetry as a Spoken Arts in 1993.
Williams was awarded the John William Crrington Award for Literary Excellence in 1994 as well as the National Arts Award (1997).
Gatewood wrote that Williams gave lectures and readings about tours to several continents, while mentoring UA students at the State Department’s request. “President Bill Clinton selected him as the speaker for his poem ‘Of History and Hope’ during the 1997 presidential inauguration. Williams described himself as a South-born product. He also benefited from his long commitment to science.
Williams is remembered for his broad imagination and his use irony, subtlety, and ambiguity. He was referred to by a journalist as “the Hank Williams” of American poetry. Miller Williams received in 2009 the Porter Prize’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Every year, the UA Press presents the Miller Williams Poetry Prize.
Williams died Jan. 1, 2015, at Fayetteville. His daughter Lucinda, despite his fame as poet, became even more popular as a songwriter/recording artist. Multiple Grammy Awards have been won by her. Time magazine named her America’s best songwriter in 2002.
“She met many of her father’s writers friends as a child, including Eudora Worldy and Flannery, who famously permitted Lucinda, 5 years old, to chase her peacocks,” Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, wrote. She was 12 years old when she began writing her own songs and performing for her parents. After a short stint at the UA she started her career as an itinerant musician. She played in coffee shops and bars in Austin, Nashville and Houston.
Lucinda Williams was the headliner of a benefit concert in September 2007 to raise funds for Miller Williams Poetry Prize.
Miller Williams was growing in Arkansas’ small towns, while Gatewood was raised in North Carolina on a tobacco farm. Gatewood was born in February 1931. His bachelor’s, masters and doctorate were all from Duke University. In 1957, he began his college teaching career with East Tennesssee State University. Gatewood taught at East Carolina University and North Carolina Wesleyan College, as well as the University of Georgia.
Gatewood arrived in Arkansas in 1970 to be the University’s first Alumni Distinguished Professor for History. This chair was endowed by the alumni association. The chair was his until his retirement in 1998. He served as UA chancellor from 1984 to 1985, taught hundreds of students and directed 25 doctoral dissertations. Some of these students went on to become college historians.
Tom DeBlack, a Arkansas historian, said that Gatewood was the recipient of most major awards at UA during his tenure, including the University Distinguished Research Award (1980) and the Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Service (1994). He was the author, coauthor, or editor of 14 books as well as more than 75 articles in scholarly journals. Many of his books were groundbreaking works in African-American History.
Gatewood’s “Aristocrats of Color”: The Black Elite, 1880-1920 was published by UA Press in 1990. It was nominated for a National Book Award. Gatewood served as president of the Southern Historical Association from 1986 to 1987.
In 2002, UA Press published “The Southern Elite & Social Change: Essays to Honor of Willard B. Gatewood Jr.” These essays were written by former students as well as colleagues.
The introduction to the book stated that there would be “no doubt” other great teachers and scholars. All who contributed to this book agree that Dr. Willard B. Gatewood Jr. was a great teacher and scholar. His enthusiasm and admiration for history are ours.
Gatewood died October 2011, Gatewood died in October 2011. It sold over 10,000 copies within 10 months, and was widely praised by critics.
Gilchrist is a Vicksburg, Miss. native. She graduated from Vanderbilt University, and then received a second degree from Millsaps. There she studied under Welty. Gilchrist published her first book of poetry in 1976, after completing postgraduate creative writing work at UA.
Gilchrist preferred to have “The Land of Dreamy Dreams”, published by UA Press over a commercial publisher. Its success led to a contract with Little, Brown & Co. Her short story collection, “Victory Over Japan”, won the 1984 National Book Award in Fiction.
UA Press hired Stephanie Brown in July 1982, after Gilchrist’s 1981 short story collection was a success. Williams handled most manuscript acquisitions. In February 1984, UA Press created a student writing award. It opened its London office in 2002. It established a journal department in 1988 that produced scholary publications.
Riffel wrote that UA Press had become a major publishing house for American poets “by the 1990s.” The press published several books of poetry that were awarded with honors, in addition to Frank Stanford’s posthumous works. … Because of his friendship with Williams, Jimmy Carter, the former President of the United States became a major contributor to the list of authors over these years. Carter had the opportunity to write about a broad range of subjects through the media.
Carter’s books included “An Outdoor Journal, Adventures and Reflections”, 1988 and “The Blood of Abraham: An Insights into Middle East”.
White was elected chancellor of the state in 1997. In that year, he decided to close down the press due to its constant loss of money. His decision sparked controversy statewide.
Riffel wrote, “In response to Gatewood and others prominent Arkansans launched an public campaign for keeping its doors open.” White conceded that the plan to shut down the press had been misguided in 1998. The funding provided by Tyson Foods, Springdale allowed the press to reorganize itself as a non-profit organization and continue publishing new titles.
“The press hired Lawrence Malley in 1998 as its director. This was partly due to the establishment of the King Fahd Center of Middle East and Islamic Studies at the UA. Recent years have seen Arkansas history made a significant contribution by the press, with the release of the Histories of Arkansas series. It traces Arkansas’s past from its territorial period to the modern era. Malley resigned at the end 2013 and Mike Bieker was appointed as assistant director.
The publishing house is still focusing on poetry, fiction, as well as books on the Middle East.
They continue to receive awards. Kathleen Condray’s “Das Arkansas Echo” won the 2021 Booker Worthen Literary Prize. Kenneth Barnes received the 2022 J.G. Award for “The Ku Klux Klan 1920s Arkansas: How Protestant White Nationalism Came To Rule a State” Arkansas Historical Association, Ragsdale Book Award
“Winthrop Rockefeller, From New Yorker To Arkansawyer 1912-1956” was published earlier this year by John Kirk, University of Arkansas at Little Rock. It is already getting acclaim.
Cherisse Jones-Branch, ASU history professor, also received positive reviews for “Better Living by Their Own Bootstraps : Black Women’s Activism In Rural Arkansas 1914-1965”.
My winter reading list includes “Country Boy: the Roots of Johnny Cash” by Colin Edward Woodward, and “Up South In the Ozarks” by Brooks Blevins of Izard Country.