Haines receives award from WILD Foundation

Submitted by Anne Hanley
Phone: (907) 479-4671
10/17/05

University of Alaska Fairbanks adjunct instructor and former Alaska poet laureate John Haines has received the first Wilderness Writing Award from the WILD Foundation, a non-profit international consortium of conservation organizations.

Haines, who was named a UAF Northern Momentum Scholar for the 2002-2003 academic year, received the award "for his body of work published relating to meaningful and significant writing on wild nature, the environment and the land," according to a citation.

"During his career, through his poetry and essays, Haines has contributed greatly to all of our appreciation of this world we share with nature," the citation states.

Vance Martin, President of the WILD Foundation and Robert C. Baron, Chairman of the WILD Foundation presented the award to Haines at a celebration of the arts and advocacy held at the Egan Center in Anchorage as part of the 8th World Wilderness Congress. The Congress, initiated by the WILD Foundation in 1977, is the longest-running, public, international environmental forum. Over 1200 delegates from 55 nations participated in the Congress which was held in Anchorage Sept. 30 through Oct. 6.

Haines is scheduled to give a reading on Dec. 8 at the Library of Congress.