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AEP Online |
Writer and Writing Mentor Billy C. ClarkGrowing up in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, Billy C. Clark was regularly called to a surreal task, oaring a "jon boat" over the tops of buildings. The small town, which sits at the mouth of the Big Sandy River, endured a major flood about every two years, Clark, born there in 1928, remembers. He had learned at an early age to handle a boat. And so he was hired to retrieve people trapped in the waters. Eventually Catlettsburg built a floodwall, erasing the riverbank where young Clark had set multiple lines to catch fish. And time changed things for Clark, too. Through his writing, he became known well beyond his hometown; in 1960 Time magazine listed his memoir A Long Row to Hoe as a Best Book of that year. But Clark remains connected to Kentucky, where a bridge has been named for him; he says he has been "just visiting" as a writer in residence in Virginia, since the mid-'80s. In 1999 a mural was painted on Catlettsburg's floodwall, with Clark's portrait. Though he has published many books, short stories, and poems, Clark regards his publication of promising high school students' works--first in Kentucky Writing , and currently in Virginia Writing --to be one of his most important callings. Clark, the only child in his family to finish high school, grew up without a mentor for his writing. "I can't say there was one person who really encouraged me," he says. "But everyone on this Earth was put here to do something; my job was to write. It came as natural as eating a meal." He wrote his first book, Song of the River , at age 14; it was later published in its original form. But even though he accomplished much independently, at an early age, Clark says he would have benefited from an opportunity such as Kentucky Writing or Virginia Writing . "There was no place I could send my writing along with young people, my own age," he remembers. Even as a young boy, he had to compete against major American writers. "The editors didn't say, 'Here's poor little Billy Clark, only 15 years old down there in the hill country of Kentucky; we'll allow extra. The world doesn't work that way." From age 11 until he finished high school, Clark lived on his own, on the top floor of Catlettsburg's city office building. Attending school, he says, wasn't a priority at home. And he picked up other jobs that allowed him to support himself till graduation: cleaning the jails; winding the town clock; walking 14 miles before school each winter morning, collecting animals along a line of traps. After high school, Clark served in the Korean War; later he attended the University of Kentucky, through the G.I. bill. Periodically during college, as well as afterward, he worked for Ashland Oil, writing about the local areas where oil had been discovered. But he also continued to work on his own writing, thanks in no small part to Ruth Bocook, another Catlettsburg native, who would become his wife. "I had a 1948 Plymouth coupe when I met Ruth," Clark remembers. In the back seat of the car he had stacked 21 unpublished manuscripts, on paper growing yellow. Clark was looking for someone to type a long book manuscript, and had heard that Bocook was a skilled typist. And so he sought her out at the restaurant where she usually ate dinner, thinking she would be only too glad to type for him. She refused. "But once I had seen her, I kind of forgot about the manuscript, and decided to concentrate on Ruth instead," Clark says, laughing. His future fiancée did end up typing the book--as well as the other 21 manuscripts, which she submitted for publication. All were sold. The two have been married for 46 years; they have one son, a mechanic, and one daughter, a restaurateur. In 1963 Clark became a writer in residence at the University of Kentucky, where he founded Kentucky Writing . He remained there for 21 years. Now in residence at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, Clark began Virginia Writing without a staff. While he still personally selects every piece of writing and artwork that goes into the twice-yearly publication, he now has an associate editor, Tina Dean, whom he calls the heart of Virginia Writing . Still, Clark finds there often isn't time to edit students' writing. "Occasionally, if there's a very good piece that needs a little bit of work, I will make suggestions to the student, or have the teacher do it." But the work of reviewing hundreds of manuscripts and pieces of artwork yearly, he confirms, is overwhelming. "Rejecting some work will always be my number one regret," he asserts. "I'm aware that every student who sends in a manuscript is waiting, with that great hope that I have known when I sent one in--that an editor might like it." Virginia Writing is circulated to every high school in the state--both public and private. Some schools use it as a supplemental text; some base their writing programs on it. "In other words," Clark points out, "they're saying to students, 'What you're reading here is by students your own age. Let's beat them!' I get thick packets of submissions, from some classes." And it's not unusual, Clark says, for the publication to receive letters from major publishers of young people's anthologies, requesting permission to reprint works. Overall, he says, the quality of students' writing is very good,
and constantly improving. But over the years, trends he's seen
in students' submissions have suggested to him a need in writing
instruction. "I wish that in any attempt to teach poetry,
we would teach poetic forms," he says. "Students should
know the ballad, the sonnet, blank verse and free verse--what constitutes
each one. They should read the masters--Keats, Shelley, Shakespeare,
Milton, Frost." How young people choose to write is up to
them, Clark acknowledges. But at least, he declares, they should
know that poetry is not just typing sentences so that they're separated
on the page. Clark, who currently has a large collection of short stories as well as two new books of poetry awaiting publication, adds that he is grateful to AEP for its several awards to Virginia Writing over the years. Questions, ideas, or in need of more information? Please contact Stacey Pusey at 856-241-7772. |
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2008 The Association of Educational
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