Wendell recently received Mercer University's Sidney Lanier Prize for Southern Literature. According to the release, this prize was "first awarded in 2012, is named for the 19th-century Southern poet born in Macon. Lanier wrote The Song of the Chattahoochee and The Marshes of Glynn. Using his name recognizes Middle Georgia’s literary heritage and long, often complicated, tradition of writing about the South. The prize is awarded to writers who have engaged and extended that tradition."
Here's a brief excerpt from his acceptance speech.
Mercer University's Center for Southern Studies awarded the 2016 Sidney Lanier Prize for Southern Literature to Wendell Berry on April 23 in the Presidents Dining Room inside the University Center. The prize honors significant career contributions to Southern writing in drama, fiction or poetry. The prize presentation is free and open to the public.
“Most people are too distracted automotively and electronically to know what world they’re in – let alone what the Bible might say about it.”