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The Association of International Publishers Essay Billy Curtis Clark was born on 29 December 1928 in Catlettsburg, Kentucky. Clark was the seventh child of Mason and Martha Clark (Foster, 1997). Clark was born in the bridge between Kenova, West Virginia and Catlettsburg, Kentucky because her mother had experienced labor pains during the time she was in West Virginia to buy something. Her mother was in a hurry to get home because he doesn’t want Billy to be born in West Virginia for nationality purposes. Catlettsburg is a town where poverty prevails and because Billy had aimed to get away of this town, he had worked hard to finished his secondary education. Billy Clark was the only child of Mason and Martha Clark who had finished secondary education. Clark had many struggles in his early adult life because at the age of eleven, he left his home and had lived in the city office building. To support his studies, he had been able to experience cleaning the jail and being a volunteer fireman. He had endured this kind of life for almost five years (Foster, 1997). After staying in the city office building for five years, he joined the Korean War. This was the time when he finished high school and because of the urge to continue to college he joined the Korean War. He was granted benefits from the G. I Bill and was able to continue college because of the grant. He chose to enroll in the Kentucky University. His first publications were rooted at the Kentucky University and these publications were produced while he was still studying at the university. His first magazine publications were entitled Boy’s Life, Coronet and Nugget (Kelly). The struggles that were experienced by Billy Clark continued even during the times he was pursuing college. He had to work then because he also had helped his mother and father in order for the poverty burden to be lessened. His father had several strokes those times and his mother had to take laundry to support the family’s needs. Because of the poverty experienced by his family, he left the university and worked in the Ashland Oil. It is in Ashland Oil were he met his wife Ruth Bocock (Foster, 1997). The Billy C. Clark Bridge that connects Kentucky and West Virginia was named in honor of Billy Clark. This is maybe because he was born on that the same river. There were several awards that had been given to Billy C. Clark because of the numerous and enormous contributions he had done in the field of literature and poetry. He was considered an award winning writer of eleven books. Among the books that he had published is the â€Å"A Long Hoe Row† that is now used by most of the universities in the United States of America in order to study the field of Appalachia. It was also awarded by the Time Magazine as the one of the Best Books in 1960. Moreover, the book entitled the â€Å"Hunter’s Horn† had received and was included and selected as one of the Crowell-Collier Classic. This was in year 1964 (The Association of International Publishers). Billy C. Clark was also the founder and editor of the Virginia writing. Clark is also a writer-in-residence at the Longwood University. Billy C. Clark had also been a writer-in-residence at his former college school at the Kentucky University. He was in service to the University for almost eighteen years. He became a full professor and at the same time being a writer-in-residence at the Longwood University in Kentucky. Another interesting thing about the famous author Billy C. Clark is that he had written a book at the age of fourteen but he was not able to publish it until he married Ruth Bocock. Ruth was the one who discovered that he had written the â€Å"Song of River†. He had written the book at the age of fourteen and the book was published exactly fourteen years after it was written with the help of Ruth Bocock, his wife. Ruth was the one who discovered the book at the back of his car after they got married (The Association of International Publishers). Works Cited: Booty, Kent. News Release from Longwood College. 28 August 1992. Foster, Kelly. (2007) Billy C. Clark. KYLIT, A site devoted for Kentucky writer 11 September 2007 http://www. english. eku. edu/SERVICES/KYLIT/clark. htm Peyton, Dave. Billy Clarks stories hewn from log of rough childhood. The Herald-Dispatch. 31 August 1992. Peyton, Dave. Unlike Thomas Wolfe, he can go home again. The Herald-Dispatch. Sept. 1992. Shaffer, Cathie. Long road leads Billy Clark back to Catlettsburg. The Daily Independent. 19 July 1992. The Association of International Publishers (2007). Past Honorees; Billy C. Clark. 10 September 2007 http://www. aepweb. org/fame/bclark. htm