DUNE 7 BLOG

Thursday, June 15, 2006

The Frank Herbert Memorial Literary Scholarship

In 1995 Brian and his sister Penny started a scholarship award in their father’s memory. It seemed fitting to offer this award in the Florence, Oregon area to students who expressed a desire to further their careers in the literary field. After all, Frank Herbert’s idea for the epic novel, DUNE, sprang from the dunes of the Oregon Coast near Florence.

Each year Penny receives as many as eight to ten applications for this scholarship, of which one is selected to receive the cash award. The applicants are high school seniors from Siuslaw High School in Florence, Mapleton High School (fifteen miles east of Florence), and even as far away as Lebanon, near Oregon’s state capital, Salem.

We have been honored to award thirteen scholarships in Frank Herbert’s memory to deserving and aspiring young men and women. Their names are engraved on a plaque displayed in the FRANK HERBERT ROOM of the Siuslaw Public Library at 1460 9th Street in Florence.

This dedicated room is also full of memorabilia donated by Penny, and contains many books from her father’s personal research library, pictures, awards, original DUNE movie posters, DUNE art work, etc. The room is open to the public during library hours.

You can visit the library’s website at www.siuslawlibrary.org/FrankHerbertCollection.asp for more information.

-- Penny