Pair given Caldwell Smith Book prizes

Kansas University’s Hall Center for the Humanities awarded the 2005 Byron Caldwell Smith Book Prize to Jonathan Earle, associate professor of history, and Jill Kuhnheim, professor of Spanish and Portuguese.

Earle won the award for his book “Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil, 1824-1854,” published by the University of North Carolina Press.

Kuhnheim was honored for her book “Textual Disruptions: Spanish American Poetry at the End of the Twentieth Century,” published by the University of Texas Press.

Earle and Kuhnheim will speak about their works at the Byron Caldwell Smith Lecture at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Spencer Museum of Art. The event is free and open to the public. A reception and book-signing will follow.

The Byron Caldwell Smith Award was established by Kate Stephens, a former KU student and one of KU’s first women professors. As an undergraduate, Stephens learned to love the study of Greek language and literature from the professor for whom the award is named. The award is given to an individual who lives or is employed in Kansas and has written an outstanding book published in the previous two years.