Tom Cofer, center, was honored by Dr. Bruce Hutchinson, left, president of the Orange Grove Center board of directors, upon his rotation off the board after 16 years of service. In addition to serving on the board, Cofer was a camp counselor at Orange Grove’s Double G Camp and volunteered his time to many of the center’s causes and needs. Also pictured is Cindy Cofer, the honoree’s wife.Jackson inducted into Writer’s Hall of Fame
Richard Jackson, author of 10 books of poems including “Resonance,” “Half Lives: Petrarchan Poems” and “Unauthorized Autobiography: New and Selected Poems” was one of five people inducted into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame on Oct. 25 during the Friends of Literacy’s awards dinner.
Jackson has published two books of translations, “Last Voyage: The Poems of Giovanni Pascoli” from Italian and Alexandar Persolja’s “Journey of the Sun” from Slovene.
He has been awarded the Order of Freedom Medal by the president of Slovenia for literacy and humanitarian work in the Balkans, and has been named a Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright Fellow, Witter-Bynner Fellow, NEA Fellow and NEH Fellow.
In 2009, he won the AWP George Garret National Award for Teaching, Writing and Arts Advocacy, and has had five Pushcart Prize Poem appearances.
Also honored were Lisa Alther, Lifetime Achievement; Inman Majors, David Brill and Dr. Glenn Reynolds.