Lewiston’s Keith Browning Honored for Outstanding Achievement in the Humanities

The Idaho Humanities Council honored former Lewis-Clark State College English Professor Keith Browning, founding editor of Confluence Press, with its 2007 Award for “Outstanding Achievement in the Humanities” at a special reception and presentation ceremony in February at the Lewis-Clark Center for Arts and History in Lewiston.

The IHC annually recognizes an individual or organization for outstanding contributions that promote greater public awareness, appreciation, and understanding of the humanities in Idaho. The board selected Browning to receive the award because of his contributions as a literary editor who devoted much of his life promoting and publishing the literary works of others.

“Keith Browning’s commitment to the humanities over the years has been exemplary,” said IHC Chair Ron Pisaneschi (Boise). “He’s done yeoman’s work promoting Idaho’s literary heritage, and he has helped launch careers of a number of writers.”

At 80, Browning is affectionately referred to by many of his friends and colleagues as a “literary godfather” because of the role he played with his late wife Shirley in publishing the works of Idaho writers in magazine and book form since the 1970s. He came to LCSC in 1970 to chair the English Department. In 1973, he and Shirley began Confluence Press and the literary magazine The Slackwater Review, a forum for poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, and art. Before he retired in 1986, he published 40 books and chapbooks by poets from Idaho and the Pacific Northwest.

While teaching English at LCSC, he also started the Idaho “Poets-in-the-Schools” program in 1973, which brought poets to elementary and secondary classrooms in the Lewiston and Clearwater Valley schools, a program that was later taken into other parts of the state.

Over the years, Browning’s home at 1122 Hemlock Street in Lewiston has been a gathering place for many get-togethers of poets and artists, from such nationally prominent writers as Jim Welch, William Kittredge, William Stafford, and Richard Hugo to many young aspiring writers. He organized readings, book fairs, and writing conferences, and instigated the annual Stegner lecture at LCSC, named after Wallace Stegner, who spoke at the college and agreed to lend his name to the series. In the 1980s he helped coordinate the creative writing program at LCSC.

After retiring in 1986, Browning continued to promote the work of Idaho writers in other innovative ways.

In 1993, he collaborated with University of Idaho filmmaker Alan Lifton on an hour-long, IHC-funded video documentary about Idaho writers that was later broadcast on PBS stations in Idaho and Washington. He published scholarly articles about Idaho writers in The Dictionary of Literary Biography, and went on to publish his own fiction, poetry, and essays in such magazines as Gray’s Sporting Journal, Boise Magazine, Rendezvous, Talking River Review, and Black Canyon Quarterly.

In 1998, to further encourage excellence in writing, he and his wife founded the Browning Family Scholarship, which awards an annual $1,000 scholarship to a Lewis-Clark State College student.

From 1999 to 2003, with the assistance and encouragement of A. L. (Butch) Alford, editor and publisher of the Lewiston Morning Tribune, Browning served as founding editor of a new literary magazine (printed by the Tribune) called Connections, which once again focused on writing from the Idaho and the Intermountain West.

Raised in Oregon during the Great Depression, Browning earned his B.A., M.A. and D.A. degrees in English at the University of Oregon. His wife Shirley sang opera, and together over the years they fostered an appreciation of opera with their son and daughter and many friends.

Unfortunately, Browning came down with the flu just days before the award presentation and was unable to attend. Instead, IHC Chair Ron Pisaneschi presented Browning’s award to his granddaughter Bailey Puckett with a check for $1,000. Ms. Puckett read Browning’s remarks about his life experiences and his wife Shirley’s impact on his and others lives. Long time friends Bill Johnson and Mary Clearman Blew, spoke about the value of Browning’s friendship, spirit and inspiration to Idaho writers.

The Idaho Humanities Council has presented its award for “Outstanding Achievement in the Humanities” annually since 1986. Previous recipients of the award have included University of Idaho Law Professor Dennis Colson, University of Idaho History Professor Carlos Schwantes, independent historian Keith Petersen, Twin Falls anthropologist James Woods, former Governor Robert E. Smylie, College of Idaho Professor Louie Attebery, State Historian Merle Wells, Idaho State University English Professor Brian Attebery, Moscow writer Mary Clearman Blew, Idaho historian Arthur Hart, Nez Perce elder Horace Axtell, and others.