SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2024 SESSION

24104161D
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 83
Offered February 20, 2024
Commending Barbara Kingsolver.
----------
Patrons-- Pillion, Boysko and Deeds
----------

WHEREAS, Barbara Kingsolver, an acclaimed author and longtime resident of Washington County, received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2023 for her latest novel, Demon Copperhead; and

WHEREAS, after growing up in rural Kentucky, earning degrees in biology from DePauw University and the University of Arizona, and living in Tucson for two decades, Barbara Kingsolver settled with her family on a farm in Washington County in 2004; and

WHEREAS, Barbara Kingsolver began her career as a freelance writer and author in 1985 and published her first novel, The Bean Trees, in 1988 to wide acclaim; she has since published several bestselling novels, including Pigs in Heaven in 1993, The Poisonwood Bible in 1998, and The Lacuna in 2009; and

WHEREAS, in her celebrated nonfiction work Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life from 2007, Barbara Kingsolver detailed a year of her life growing vegetables and raising animals on her Washington County farm; and

WHEREAS, Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, which artfully transposes aspects of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield onto the story of a boy from modern-day Appalachia, also received Britain’s prestigious Women’s Prize for Fiction, making her the first author to receive the award twice, having also won it in 2010 for The Lacuna; and

WHEREAS, Barbara Kingsolver has garnered a number of prestigious honors in recognition of her accomplishments as a writer, including the National Humanities Medal in 2000 and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2011; and

WHEREAS, Barbara Kingsolver’s contributions to both the American and world literary canons are evidenced by her works’ inclusion in many high school and college curriculums around the country and translated into more than 30 languages; and

WHEREAS, in 1998, Barbara Kingsolver established the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, now known as the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, which has since helped to launch the careers of several new writers; and

WHEREAS, Barbara Kingsolver’s efforts as an author, as an active and engaged member of her Washington County community, and as a voice for Appalachia, have made an impact on countless lives and continue to bring great pride to the Commonwealth; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate of Virginia, That Barbara Kingsolver hereby be commended for receiving the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Barbara Kingsolver as an expression of the Senate of Virginia’s admiration for her achievements.