WKU News

WKU English Professor Dr. Tom Hunley Awarded the Prestigious Rattle Chapbook Prize

Dr. Tom Hunley, a professor of English at Western Kentucky University, has been awarded the prestigious Rattle Chapbook Prize for his collection of poetry Adjusting to the Lights.

Dr. Hunley’s collection consists of poems about raising a teenage son on the autism spectrum and adopting a teenage daughter from state foster care. The title for this collection comes from a poem Dr. Hunley published in the journal crazyhorse, which can be accessed at https://crazyhorse.cofc.edu/featured/the-last-time-i-took-my-son-to-the-movies/.

The Rattle Chapbook prize is the premier chapbook contest in the United States. Dr. Hunley will receive an honorarium of $5,000 and his collection will have a minimum of 7,000 copies distributed nationwide. His manuscript was one of only three accepted out of 1,885 entries.

Dr. Hunley has as taught in the WKU English Department’s BA/MFA creative writing program since 2003. He has published six full-length collections of poetry and placed poems in several prominent journals over the past thirty years. He has also written two textbooks and co-edited a third.

Check out the link to the link to "Rattle's" award page, featuring Dr. Hunley here!