Governor Maggie Hassan and the New Hampshire Writers' Project announced the four inaugural inductees to the New Hampshire Literary Hall of Fame Wednesday. The Hall of Fame will be housed as a permanent exhibit and artifact collection at SNHU's Learning Library on the school's Hooksett campus.
Writers' Project Board President Rob Greene and SNHU's Dean of the Shapiro Library, Kathryn Growney, stopped by NHPR's studio to talk about the inductees and the New Hampshire Literary Hall of Fame.
Nominations for the Hall of Fame were submitted by the public, with the inductees chosen by a panel of leaders in publishing from the fields of journalism, criticism, broadcast, and writing, according to the Writer's Project.
Criteria for the inaugural group were that at least one writer would be living and one deceased. Going forward, two inductees will be named every other year.
The 2015 New Hampshire Literary Hall of Fame inductees are:
Robert Frost
Former poet laureate of the United States, Frost attended Dartmouth University and made his home in New Hampshire for many years. Frost was tapped to read at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961 and received four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry. He is probably best remembered for his works “The Road not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
Related: From The NHPR Archives: Robert Frost
Donald Hall
Hall has authored more than 50 books, including 15 volumes of poetry. A longtime resident of Wilmot, NH, Hall holds a Caldecott Medal for his children’s book “The Ox-Cart Man.” He is a former U.S. Poet Laureate and is highly regarded for his work as an academic, formerly holding teaching positions at Stanford University, Bennington College, and University of Michigan.
Related: From The Archives: Poets Laureate
John Irving
Irving was born and raised in Exeter, NH. His The World According to Garp became an international best-seller in 1978, and, in 1999, Irving won an Academy Award for “best adapted screenplay” for his retooling of his novel The Cider House Rules. Other noted works include The Hotel New Hampshire and A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Related: John Irving on Writers on a New England Stage
Grace Metalious
Born in Manchester, NH, Metalious rocked the American literary scene in 1956 with Peyton Place, a novel about the dark secrets of a small town. She penned three more successful novels before dying at age 39.
Related: "Peyton Place" 60 Years Later
