The Central Arkansas Library System's Butler Center for Arkansas Studies has awarded the 2025 Booker Worthen Literary Prize to Monica Potts for her 2023 book, "The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America."

The prize, presented annually for the best work by an Arkansas author and published in the three-year eligibility period following publication, carries a $2,000 monetary award.

Potts' book tells the story of a lifelong friendship between two young working-class women in Clinton, Ark., who were headed toward bright futures until their paths split.

Potts left Arkansas to attend college in the Northeast, and pursued a successful writing career after college. Her friend Darci Brawner stayed in Clinton, and her life became one of despair characterized by a

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