Kentucky Book Festival 2023

PROUD PARTNER & 2023 HOST OF THE KENTUCKY BOOK FESTIVAL!

Dear Authors, Readers, Fans and Friends of Books,

Kentucky Humanities is proud to welcome you to the 42nd edition of the Kentucky Book Festival, where every lover of literature can find a book to enjoy and to shake the hand that wrote it. The keyword for this festival is community, for we would have no humanity without community and no community without humanity.

We hope you enjoy browsing the author’s gallery, attending a few of the main stage events and writer’s room sessions, and visiting the children’s tent with fun activities for the next generation of readers. Thanks to our sponsors, for a second year, hundreds of children 12 and under can receive vouchers for a free book of their choice. This festival would not have been possible without the generous help of numerous organizations and individuals. We’re grateful to our partners at Joseph-Beth Booksellers for hosting and assisting in planning the event. Our volunteers’ dedication and enthusiasm are greatly appreciated. We hope that everyone who attends the event leaves enriched by engaging books and treasured friendships.

Katerina Stoykova

OCTOBER 21

10 AM –5 PM

SIGNING TIMES MAY VARY

Joseph-Beth Booksellers

161 Lexington Green Circle Lexington, KY 40503

Authors will sign books at various locations within Joseph-Beth Booksellers

Most authors will be seated downstairs on the lower level with access via escalator and elevator. Maps will be provided day-of.

Table of Contents

AND THE TEAM OF THE KENTUCKY BOOK FESTIVAL

is offering free inspection & cleaning of your jewelry

Sat, October 21, 2023 Kentucky Book Festival plus 10% off your purchase (some restrictions apply)

Thank you to the staff & volunteers who make this event possible! We appreciate your time and support in making the 2023 Kentucky Book Festival a success.

KENTUCKY HUMANITIES BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CHAIR

Brian Clardy, Ph.D. Murray

VICE CHAIR

Jennifer Cramer, Ph.D. Lexington

SECRETARY - TREASURER

Clarence E. Glover Louisville

Chelsea Brislin, Ph.D. Lexington

Selena Sanderfer Doss, Ph.D. Bowling Green

Ben Fitzpatrick, Ph.D. Morehead

Catha Hannah Louisville

Sara Hemingway Owensboro

Lois Mateus Harrodsburg

Keith McCutchen, D.M.A. Frankfort

Thomas Owen, Ph.D. Louisville

Jordan Parker Lexington

Libby Parkinson Louisville

Penelope Peavler Louisville

Lou Anna Red Corn, JD Lexington

Andrew Reed Pikeville

Judy Rhoads, Ed.D. Owensboro

Ron Sheffer, JD Louisville

Hope Wilden, CPFA Lexington

Bobbie Ann Wrinkle Paducah

Wayne G. Yates Princeton

KENTUCKY HUMANITIES STAFF

Bill Goodman Executive Director

Kathleen Pool Associate Director

Marianne Stoess Assistant Director

Katerina Stoykova Kentucky Book Festival Director

Zoe Kaylor Kentucky Chautauqua  & Speakers Bureau  Coordinator

Derek Beaven Program & Administrative Assistant

Julie Klier Events Producer

Karen Spivey Graphic Designer

Luke Newey Kentucky Book Festival Administrative Assistant

Kentucky Humanities is an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C. Kentucky Humanities is supported by the National Endowment and by private contributions. In addition to producing the Kentucky Book Festival, Kentucky Humanities sponsors PRIME TIME Family Reading Time®, offers Kentucky Chautauqua® and Speakers Bureau programs, hosts Smithsonian traveling exhibits throughout the state, publishes Kentucky Humanities magazine, and awards grants for humanities programs. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the NEH or Kentucky Humanities board and staff. Learn more at kyhumanities.org.

OCTOBER 19 • 7 PM

Books & Brews Trivia

An opportunity to socialize and to test your literary trivia! Free and open to the public.

GOODWOOD LEXINGTON

200 LEXINGTON GREEN CIRCLE

LEXINGTON, KY 40503

OCTOBER 21 Festival Day 10 AM to 5 PM

150 authors will be in attendance, meeting readers and signing books. Patrons can enjoy a full slate of main stage events alongside educational workshops and craft talks, as well as a packed schedule of children’s events.

EVENTS

OCTOBER 18 • 12-2 PM

The Literary Luncheon:

A Conversation with Silas House

This is a ticketed event. Register online. The Literary Luncheon: Kentucky Poet Laureate Silas House will be in conversation with writer Patricia Hudson, poet LeTonia Jones and musician Senora May. This event is catered by Ouita Michel and Holly Hill Events.

FASIG-TIPTON

2400 NEWTOWN PIKE

LEXINGTON, KY 40511

Books & Books & Brews Brews

Test Your Literary Trivia

October 19 October 19 7pm 7pm

The program includes special appearances by #1 New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward, nonfiction writer Stephen Bright with CNN’s Poppy Harlow, as well as a highlight of the book A is for Affrilachia, where author Frank X Walker and illustrator upfromsumdirt will be in conversation with Crystal Wilkinson.

JOSEPH-BETH BOOKSELLERS

161 LEXINGTON GREEN CIRCLE

LEXINGTON, KY 40503

N Children’s

Nancy Allen Dear Vampire

Growing up in Kentucky halfway between Troublesome Creek and Hell-for-Certain and near a town named Hazard, Nancy Allen learned to take the non-risky route of looking before leaping. Dear Vampire invites you into the world of real vampires. Their extraordinary behavior proves that fact is truly stranger than fiction.

Jeff Alt

Time Traveling Through Yellowstone National Park: The Adventures of Bubba Jones

Jeff Alt is a celebrated author and avid outdoor enthusiast. In the fifth book of this award-winning National Park series, Tommy Bubba Jones and his sister, Jenny Hug-aBug, uncover amazing facts about Yellowstone National Park while on a mission to solve a park mystery.

P. Anastasia

POE Prophecies: The Raven

Kentucky author and voice talent P. Anastasia has written two children’s books and 10 novels. The Raven is the story of Aidan Grey, a 12-yearold student at P.O.E. Academy, where the curriculum includes the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Debbie Dadey Ghosts Don’t Eat Potato Chips

A former first grade teacher and school librarian, Debbie Dadey is the author and co-author of 182 traditionally published books. Ghosts Don’t Eat Potato Chips is a graphic novel about Eddie and Howie’s adventures investigating the mystery of disappearing potato chips.

Dr. James Kirby Easterling

The Amazing Adventures of Chester the Wiener Dog

Dr. James Easterling is currently Assistant Professor/Director of the Global Supply Chain Management program at Eastern Kentucky University. This book is about a little abandoned wiener dog puppy named “Chester,” who eventually finds his furever family and a warm, safe, and nurturing home.

Tama Fortner God, I Feel Sad

Tama Fortner is an ECPA awardwinning and bestselling author with more than 50 titles to her credit. God, I Feel Sad teaches kids ages 4 to 8 how to identify the feeling of sadness, see signs of sadness in others, and recognize things that can make them feel sad.

Events and authors are subject to change.

LaTrell Halcomb Brownie Boy

LaTrell Halcomb is determined to teach young scholars that anything is possible as long as they continue to strive to achieve their dreams. In Brownie Boy, Mike can’t wait to get home and eat his favorite dessert.

Will Hillenbrand The Voice in the Hollow

Will Hillenbrand is a celebrated author and illustrator whose published works include over 70 books for young readers. The Voice in the Hollow tells the story of a young mouse whose shortcut home turns into a fantastical journey.

Jason Lady Time Problems

Jason is a United States Army brat who grew up on military bases from Germany to Fort Knox, KY. Rachel, the main character in Time Problems, is dreading middle school. She thinks an endless summer would solve her problems. Inspired by her stuffed animals, Rachel draws characters to make her dream come true.

Visit kybookfestival.org , for information including the latest updates.

Megan Lynch

Bone Carnival

Megan Lynch is the author of young adult and middle grade novels and lives in Nashville, TN. Bone Carnival is a spooky novel about the mystical summer adventures of a 12-year-old troublemaker in Rome, Italy.

Marta Miranda-Straub

Lullaby for Maddie

Marta Miranda-Straub is an AfroCaribbean Latinx woman born in Cuba. Lullaby for Maddie, a book for young readers, tells the birth story of a sassy little mermaid named Madelyn who begrudgingly joins the humans and grows to find warmth and love in the arms of her Cuban family.

Kay

Saffari

We All Count

Kay Saffari is a college Spanish and ESL instructor, medical interpreter, and writer. We All Count is a counting book, but it teaches young children that everyone has value.

Emmie Seals

Ella Lyon Time to Fly

George

Former Kentucky Poet Laureate and inductee to the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame, George Ella adds a new picture book to her list of accomplishments. Time to Fly tracks Baby Bird’s passage from fear and doubt alone in the nest to flying about, along with the rest.

Alexandra V. Mendez

What the Jaguar Told Her

Alexandra V. Mendez is a writer, teacher, and scholar who grew up bilingual in Decatur, GA, with family roots in Mexico and Mississippi. What the Jaguar Told Her explores in sumptuous detail the themes of identity, friendship, crushes, loss, and looking for answers to life’s toughest questions.

Susan Mills Alex, the Awesome and Artsy Allosaurus

Susan Mills is the founder of a nonprofit organization called My Autism Tribe, based in Lexington, KY. The organization supports families and educates communities about autism. Her books are conversation starters that can help families and educators embrace differences and celebrate diversity.

Wes Molebash

Travis Daventhorpe for the Win!

From debut author Wes Molebash comes this video-game-inspired sci-fi adventure series. Join Travis as he dodges bullies, forges friendships, and perfects his science fair project...all while trying to fulfill his magical destiny.

Shawn Pryor

Fighting for Freedom Along the Underground Railroad: An Interactive Look at History (You Choose: Seeking History)

YOU are fighting for freedom from enslavement for yourself and others during the mid-1800s. Will you escape to freedom? And will you help others escape as part of the Underground Railroad’s network of freedom fighters? Step back in time to face the challenges and decisions that real people faced to escape slavery.

Babble to My Bark

Emmie Seals is passionate about literacy and spreading the joy of books far and wide. Inspired by adoption, Babble to My Bark gives the perspective of the furry family member welcoming a child. No matter how a family comes together, it makes no difference to man’s best friend.

Jennifer Sommer

Her Eyes Were on the Stars: Nancy Grace

Roman, “Mother of Hubble” Space Telescope

Jennifer Sommer is the 2014 winner of the Karen and Philip Cushman Late Bloomer Award for a work in progress. Her Eyes Were on the Stars is a picture book biography that introduces young readers to a female scientist in the field of astronomy.

Meredith Steiner Just. Like. You.

Meredith Steiner is an activist and advocate, committed to a more just, more joyful world. Just. Like. You. is a rhyming story in celebration of diversity that introduces readers to all the different members of a classroom, and what makes each of them uniquely who they are.

Bring Community Home

Every day brings an opportunity to connect, learn and grow. From cooking demos to exercise classes, book clubs and informative workshops, AARP has so many virtual options at your fingertips.

Click to connect at aarp.org/nearyou

Mick Sullivan

I See Lincoln’s Underpants: The Surprising Times Underwear (and the People Wearing Them) Made History

Mick Sullivan is the creator and producer of The Past and the Curious: A History Podcast for Kids and Families. In addition to “Short Shorts and the Underwear Hall of Fame,” in I See Lincoln’s Underpants kids can read 16 biographical chapters highlighting interesting moments of famous people’s lives.

Jayne Moore Waldrop + Michael McBride

A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson

Jayne Moore Waldrop is a writer and attorney who loves telling stories about her native western Kentucky. Michael McBride is a Tennessee-based artist and a professor at Tennessee State University. A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson tells the story of a young man’s determined path to become a classically trained artist.

Frank X Walker + upfromsumdirt A Is for Affrilachia

Frank X Walker, the first African American writer to be named Kentucky Poet Laureate, is an artist, writer, and educator who has published 11 collections of poetry. Upfromsumdirt is an award-winning artist and an author of several poetry collections. This inspired children’s alphabet book is an exuberant celebration of people, physical spaces, and historical events.

Marie Weller + Paula Vertikoff

Cranium Critters: Einstein Acts When Squirrels Distract

Marie Weller and Paula Vertikoff are an elementary school counselor and principal, respectively, who are dedicated to social emotional wellness for children and the adults who care about them. Cranium Critters is an engaging and educational children’s picture book that introduces young readers to the concept of executive functions in the brain.

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Justin Arnold

Wicked Little Things

Justin Arnold is a storyteller, occasional comedian, and junk food connoisseur. Wicked Little Things is the story of the recently outed 16-year-old Dane Craven, who is forced to return to his unbearably small hometown of Jasper Hollow.

Lydia P. Brownlow Vermilion Sunrise

Lydia P. Brownlow grew up in Louisville, KY Fortunately, her parents didn’t make her choose between being a literature kid or a science kid, so she became both. Vermilion Sunrise is a young adult sci-fi novel about the first human colony in another solar system.

Cinda Williams Chima Children of Ragnarok

Ohio-born author Cinda Williams Chima is a New York Times bestselling author of the Seven Realms, Heir Chronicles, and Shattered Realms teen fantasy series. Her newest duology, The Runestone Saga (Balzer + Bray), launched in fall of 2022 with Children of Ragnarok . It marries Norse mythology and magic with Viking adventure, swordplay, romance, and cut-throat politics.

Helene Dunbar

The Promise of Lost Things

Over the years, Helene Dunbar has worked as a drama critic, journalist, and marketing manager, and has written articles on diverse topics. In The Promise of Lost Things, the spirits of the dead roam the streets, and there’s no such thing as resting in peace.

Heather Henson Wrecked

Heather Henson is an awardwinning author of several books for young readers. Her most recent YA novel, Wrecked, is a contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest set in rural Kentucky, which Publisher’s Weekly called an “explosive thriller.”

M Hendrix

The Chaperone

M Hendrix holds a Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Cincinnati, where she was a Taft Fellow. The Chaperone tells the story of a young woman’s fight against the oppressive world she knows, risking everything to set out on a dangerous journey.

Kaitlyn Hill Not Here to Stay Friends

Kaitlyn Hill lives with her real-life romance hero in Lexington, KY. Not Here to Stay Friends is a friends-tolovers spin on The Bachelor and follows two childhood besties who reunite to spend the summer in L.A. after five years apart.

Mariama J. Lockington

Forever Is Now

Mariama J. Lockington is an adoptee, author, and educator. Forever Is Now adult novel-in-verse about mental health, love, family, Black joy, and finding your voice and power in an unforgiving world.

Teresa Richards

Flippin’ Skaters

Teresa Richards’ novels have received Editors Pick, Best Book, and Top Pick distinctions from Evernight Teen, LASR, and Night Owl Reviews. Her newest novel, Flippin’ Skaters, won a first chapter contest award at the SCBWI Midsouth Fall Conference prior to publication.

Carissa Turpin

Doomsday Dani

Carissa Turpin currently resides in Louisville, KY, where she teaches fifth- and seventh-grade language arts. Doomsday Dani about a 12-year-old preparing for Y2K or, in her view, the end of the world.

Julian R. Vaca

The Memory Index

Julian R. Vaca is a first-generation Mexican American and a firstgeneration college graduate. The story in The Memory Index is set in an alternative 1987, where a disease ravages human memories. There is no cure, only artificial recall. The lucky ones, ”the recollectors,” need the treatment only once a day.

SNO WY OWL FOU NDATION, INC.

David Bell Try Not to Breathe

David Bell is the New York Times bestselling author of 16 novels for adults and young adults. Try Not to Breathe is a story about an ex-cop who sets out to find her missing sister and discovers the shocking truth about her family.

Frank Bill Back to the Dirt: A Novel

Frank Bill is the New York Times bestselling author of The Ravaged. He lives and writes in southern Indiana. Back to the Dirt: A Novel is a story about the struggles of a Vietnam vet to keep his job and relationships.

Gwenda Bond Mr. & Mrs. Witch

Gwenda Bond is the New York Times bestselling author and a co-founder of the nonprofit Lexington Writer’s Room. In Mr. & Mrs. Witch, a couple discovers at the altar the surprising secret identities they’ve kept from each other.

Tracey Buchanan Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace

Tracey Buchanan crashed into the literary world when she was six and won her first writing award. Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace is a story about the power of forgiveness and why it’s worth it to let others into your life, even when it hurts.

Jennifer Coburn Cradles of the Reich

Jennifer lives in San Diego with her husband and is the author of Cradles of the Reich, a historical novel about three very different

women living at a Nazi Lebensborn breeding home at the start of World War ll.

Georgia Day Of Sand and Bone

Georgia Day holds a B.A. in Literary Studies from the University of Texas at Dallas and has dreamed of being a writer her entire life. Of Sand and Bone is a story about breaking with traditions in favor of forging a new path.

Phyllis R. Dixon Intermission

Phyllis R. Dixon is a native of Milwaukee, WI, and has worked for the U.S. Treasury Department as a National Bank Examiner and owned a bookstore. Intermission is the story of four former girl group members, who reluctantly consider reuniting for a 20th anniversary tour, despite vows never to speak again.

Monic Ductan Daughters of Muscadine: Stories

Monic Ductan lives in Cookeville, TN, where she teaches literature and creative writing at Tennessee Tech University. The stories in Daughters of Muscadine feature people whose voices have been suppressed and erased for too long: Black women, rural women, Appalachian women, and working-class women.

Cynthia Ellingsen A Play for Revenge

Cynthia Ellingsen is an Amazon Charts and Apple Books bestselling author. In A Play for Revenge, a single mother must solve the mystery of the town theater to learn why it was shut down and stop the forces trying to keep it closed.

Jonathan Fredrick Bad Men Will Come

Jonathan Fredrick is the author of the Cain City Novels, which were inspired, in part, by his hometown of Huntington, WV. Bad Men Will Come is a mystery thriller about pursuing a treasure and the fine line between desire and greed.

Kristen Gentry Mama Said

Kristen Gentry is an associate professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at SUNY Geneseo. Set amid the tail end of the crack epidemic and the rise of the opioid crisis, Mama Said evokes Black family life in all its complexity.

David Grise

Bogustan: An Adventure in Diplomatic Misunderstanding

David Grise is a retired federal prosecutor who specialized in whitecollar crime and corruption cases. Bogustan is a story about newly minted diplomat Rudy Hancock, who has been given the task of convincing corrupt officials in Bogustan to allow their small country to become a dumping ground for America’s nuclear waste.

Chris Helvey Last Train to Miami

A founding member of the Bluegrass Writers Coalition, Chris Helvey is also the editor-in-chief and publisher of Trajectory Journal Last Train to Miami is a mystery thriller about Moe Horwitz, a mafia hit man in the 1960s.

Mimi Herman

The Kudzu Queen

Mimi Herman’s writing has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Shenandoah, Crab Orchard Review and other journals. Based on historical facts, The Kudzu Queen unravels a tangle of sexuality, power, race, and kudzu through an irresistibly delightful (and mostly honest) narrator.

Janet Holloway

Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do

Janet Holloway is the founder of Women Leading Kentucky, a nonprofit organization that provides educational and leadership opportunities for women. Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do is a collection of short stories focused on the author’s Appalachian pioneering, bootlegging granny Billie.

Silas House Lark Ascending

Silas House is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels and one book of creative nonfiction. Lark Ascending follows Lark and his impromptu family of fellow refugees as they struggle to find a haven in a near-future world of widespread ecological, political, and civil dangers.

Patricia L. Hudson Traces: A Novel

Patricia L. Hudson is a freelance writer and former contributing editor for Americana magazine. Traces is a retelling of Daniel Boone’s saga through the eyes of his wife, Rebecca, and her two oldest daughters, Susannah and Jemima.

Lynne Hugo The Language of Kin

Lynne Hugo and her husband live in southwest Ohio with their yellow Lab. The Language of Kin explores the various ways humans

communicate and fail to communicate, and what we ultimately come to understand and forgive in ourselves and each other.

R.J. Jacobs This Is How We End Things

R.J. Jacobs has practiced as a psychologist since 2003. A foreboding new dark academia thriller of deception and suspense, This Is How We End Things follows the unraveling of a close group of students as they contend with what it means to lie, and be lied to.

Wendy Jett Girl

Wendy Jett is a longtime fitness instructor, découpage nerd, and improv junkie who loves to write. Girl is a mixed-genre family story, told through the innocent perspective of a young daughter, granddaughter, sister, and friend. Stories and poems propel the narrative both in action and in emotion.

Tif Marcelo When Jasmine Blooms

Tif Marcelo is a veteran United States Army nurse and holds a BS in nursing and an MS in public administration. Inspired by the classic Little Women, When Jasmine Blooms is a timeless tale of motherhood about one woman’s grief, hope, and second chance with the daughter she lost.

Bobbie Ann Mason Dear Ann

Bobbie Ann Mason is the author of numerous books, including Clear Springs, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In Dear Ann, she captures the excitement of youth and the nostalgia of age and relates how the consideration of the road not taken can illuminate, and perhaps overtake our present.

The Bluegrass Files: Broken Glass

After a long career as a professional musician and educator, having written several instructional texts along the way, Frank Messina turned his attention to writing fiction in 2016. The Bluegrass Files: Broken Glass invites you into the world of Sonia Vitale and the ladies of Bluegrass Confidential Investigations.

John Winn Miller The Hunt for the Peggy C: A World War II Maritime Thriller

John Winn Miller is an awardwinning investigative reporter, foreign correspondent, editor, newspaper publisher, screenwriter, movie producer, and novelist. The Hunt for the Peggy C is about an American fugitive who struggles to rescue a Jewish family on his rusty cargo ship.

Shelley Read Go as a River

Shelley Read was a senior lecturer at Western Colorado University for nearly three decades, where she taught literature and environmental studies. Go as a River is a story of a young woman who follows her heart.

Sherry Robinson Echo Her Lovely Bones

Sherry Robinson is an awardwinning American fiction author of three novels. The women in Echo Her Lovely Bones echo the resilience of generations of women and affirm the importance of women finding their own voices.

Christopher Rowe The Navigating Fox

Christopher Rowe has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, World

FJ Messina

YOUR HISTORY. YOUR FILSON.

Collecting, Preserving, and Sharing the history and culture of Kentucky and the Ohio Valley since 1884.

Our Mission

To collect, preserve, and share the significant history and culture of Kentucky and the Ohio Valley.

Our Values

The Filson is committed to the work of Preservation, Access, and Education. It pursues ever greater Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Its operations are characterized by Excellence, Service, and Integrity.

Our Vision

To be a nationally preeminent historical society that inspires its communities to build a stronger present and future through learning from their past.

PRAISESONG FOR THE KITCHEN GHOSTS

BY CRYSTAL WILKINSON

A lyrical, culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians with 40+ treasured family recipes

1310 S. 3rd St. | Louisville, KY | (502) 635-5083 | filsonhistorical.org

Monday-Friday, 9:00-4:30 | Free tours at 2:00 p.m.

Now Accepting Bold Dreamers

You know it. You can feel it. It’s that moment when you know you are ready. Ready to move ahead. Ready to take that step. Ready to turn all your promise and potential into reality.

It’s your moment.

At the University of Kentucky, we know it, too. We are a community that welcomes dreamers and doers. There’s a sense of momentum here. We believe – we know – we can change lives and transform communities.

After all, we are doing it – every day. You can, too.

Here, you can join a community of scholars and students who will support and challenge you as you pursue your passions. With more than 200 academic programs, you won’t be limited in where you can go and what you can do.

And you will it do it in a wildly powerful community – what we call the Big Blue Nation. We will support you for who you are, while challenging you to push yourself just a bit further.

Because we know it, too.

It’s your moment.

Fantasy, Neukom Institute, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards. The Navigating Fox is a fantastical fable of knowledgeable creatures, in the vein of Brian Jacques’ Redwall series but for adults.

Julia Seales

A Most Agreeable Murder

Julia Seales is a writer and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. In A Most Agreeable Murder, when a wealthy bachelor drops dead at a ball, a young lady takes on the decidedly improper role of detective in this actionpacked debut comedy of manners and murder.

Jessica Strawser

The Next Thing You Know

Jessica Strawser is the author of five book-club favorite novels. The Next Thing You Know is an emotional, resonant story about the power of human connection, love when you least expect it, hope against the odds, and what it really takes to live life with no regrets.

Lauren Thoman

I’ll Stop the World

Lauren Thoman lives outside of Nashville, TN, with her husband, two children, and a rotating number of dogs and fish. I’ll Stop the World is a mystery thriller, where the ending and the beginning become one in a coming-of-age story about the power of friendship, fate, and inexplicable second chances.

Margaret Verble Stealing

Margaret Verble is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a member of a large Cherokee family. Stealing is a gripping, gutpunch of a novel about a Cherokee child removed from her

family and sent to a Christian boarding school in the 1950s.

Jessica Ward St. Ambrose School for Girls

Jessica Ward is a pseudonym for the #1 New York Times bestselling author who writes as J.R. Ward and has over 20 million books in print. She enjoys spending time in the Adirondacks and lives in the South with her family and her dogs.

Andrew Welsh-Huggins The End of the Road

Andrew Welsh-Huggins’ short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mystery Magazine, and other publications. The End of the Road is a stand-alone crime novel about a young woman’s quest for vengeance after her boyfriend is shot and left for dead.

David Wesley Williams Everybody Knows

A longtime newspaper reporter and editor, David Wesley Williams, lives in Memphis, TN, with his wife, Barb, and their two retired racing greyhounds. The story of Everybody Knows introduces a raft of characters, including musicians, an escaped felon, a tyrannical governor atop his state’s old electric chair, various and likable sidekicks and mistresses, and even a writer.

M. Dean Wright Welcome, Caller

M. Dean Wright is a queer, trans author who writes stories for underrepresented voices like his own. Welcome, Caller explores the intricacies of queer neurodivergent love and how navigating these experiences can impact life, relationships, and the road to self-acceptance.

N poetry

Willie Carver Jr.

Gay Poems for Red States

Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. holds degrees in French and English from Morehead State University, where he focused his studies on advocacy for students. In Gay Poems for Red States, Carver counters the injustice of a persistent anti-LGBTQ+ movement by asserting that a life full of beauty and pride is possible for everyone.

Tony Crunk

Coal Man’s Son

Tony Crunk’s first collection of poetry, Living in the Resurrection, was the 1994 selection in the Yale Series of Younger Poets. Coal Man’s Son is a gothic coal-camp mad/sacred fever-dream that re-mythologizes the origins of both God and Man, and what came between them.

Linda Bryant Davis Between Two Worlds

Linda Bryant Davis is a retired journalist who co-hosts Kentucky Writers Roundtable, a weekly talk show on RadioLex 93.9. In Between Two Worlds, we meet a family in which the parents drink too much, children fear their Bible-toting grandma is secretly a child-eating dinosaur, and a sister goes “existential.”

Kathleen Driskell

The Vine Temple: Poems

Past chair of the AWP Board (201922), Kathleen Driskell is professor of Creative Writing and Chair of the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University, home of the nationally distinguished low-residency MFA in Writing Program. The poems in The Vine Temple meditate on light and darkness in the natural world.

Carolyn Grace

Grenadine and Other Love Affairs

Carolyn Grace graduated from Berea College with an undergraduate degree in English composition and a minor in music performance. Grenadine and Other Love Affairs, her first book of poetry, delves into the quest to make sense of oneself and the world, and to excavate ever deeper layers of meaning.

Jonathan Greene Going Through It

Jonathan Greene was born in New York City in 1943. After living in San Francisco twice and graduating from Bard College, he moved to Kentucky in 1966, where members of his family had been living since 1846. Going Through It from Broadstone Books, his 40th book publication, celebrates his 80th birthday.

LeTonia Jones Black Girl at the Intersection

LeTonia Jones is a lifelong Kentuckian who has used the alchemy of arts and activism for over 25 years. The poems in Black Girl at the Intersection speak from the intersection of social justice and personal heartbreak.

Libby Falk Jones

For Your Good Health, Drink Flowers: New and Collected Poems

Libby Falk Jones is a member of the Bluegrass Writers Studio and Berea Writers Circle. She currently co-directs Coming of Age, a writing program for Kentucky women over 55. This collection includes poems appearing in Jones’ two previous chapbooks as well as poems published in a variety of journals and anthologies

over the past three decades.

Maurice Manning Snakedoctor

A former Guggenheim fellow, Maurice Manning teaches at Transylvania University. Snakedoctor is a rooted in Kentucky culture, history, and geography. His fourth book, The Common Man, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His first book, Lawrence Booth’s Book of Visions, was selected by W.S. Merwin for the Yale Series of Younger Poets.

Norman Minnick

The Lost Etheridge: Uncollected Poems of Etheridge Knight

Norman Minnick is the author of several collections of poetry and the editor of The Lost Etheridge: Uncollected Poems of Etheridge Knight. This book features over 300 poems by the award-winning Black Arts Movement poet, Etheridge Knight.

Lisa Parker The Parting Glass

Lisa Parker is a native Virginian, a poet, musician, and photographer. Her first book, This Gone Place, won the 2010 ASA Weatherford Award and her second book, The Parting Glass, won the 2021 Arthur Smith Poetry Prize.

Roberta Schultz Asking Price

Roberta Schultz, author of four chapbooks and one full-length collection, is a songwriter, teacher, and poet from Wilder, KY. In Asking Price, questions are key to examining humanity’s relationship with the planet on which we live.

Jessica D. Thompson Daybreak and Deep

For over a decade, Jessica D. Thompson served as a crisis office volunteer as well as a hospital and legal advocate for a battered women’s shelter. Daybreak and Deep is a rich and graceful assembly of requiems, for family and home places, and for a spouse. Thompson honors then abandons the innocence of childhood and the prescribed gender roles imbued with religion and tradition.

upfromsumdirt The Second Stop Is Jupiter

Upfromsumdirt, aka Ron Davis, is an autodidactic poet and awardwinning visual artist based in Lexington, KY. The Second Stop Is Jupiter is a deep engagement with the cultural narrative, populated with Black hero figures who will fuel the imagination.

Jeff Worley

The Poet Laureate of Aurora Avenue:

Selected Poems

Jeff Worley, Kentucky Poet Laureate for 2019-2020, is the author of seven books of poetry. The Poet Laureate of Aurora Avenue is a collection of poems culled from the author’s previous six books, several of which are out of print.

Crystal Wilkinson Perfect Black

Kentucky Poet Laureate for 20212022 and 2022 NAACP Image Award Winner Crystal Wilkinson has released Perfect Black. This captivating collection of poetry and prose, beautifully blending her rural roots with a passion for language and storytelling is interwoven with striking illustrations from her longtime partner, Ronald W. Davis.

N nonfiction

Karen Abney Lonnie & Twyla Money: 50 Years of Kentucky Appalachian Folk Art

An accomplished painter, fiber artist, and photographer, Karen Abney has exhibited at several galleries across the region. Lonnie & Twyla Money is the story of two iconic Kentucky artists who have been making folk art pieces for nearly 50 years and have helped to shape this unique Appalachian art form.

Robert R. Adams

Reflections of a Scared Soldier Boy in Vietnam: God, Redlegs, and Blueboys

Robert R. Adams devotes his free time to reading history and veteran affairs. This work details the constant emotional and psychological struggles of a scared young combat soldier, as his experiences transformed him from a boy into manhood through the forced maturity of war.

Valerie Askren

Five-Star Trails: Louisville and Southern Indiana: 40 Spectacular Hikes in the Derby City Region

After spending more than 20 years as a university researcher and professor, Valerie Askren traded academia for the hardwood forests of Kentucky. Inside Five-Star Trails, you’ll find descriptions of 40 five-star hiking trails for all levels and interests, along with insight into the history, flora, and fauna of the routes.

Michael T. Benson

Daniel Coit Gilman and the Birth of the American Research University

Michael T. Benson is president and professor of history at Coastal Carolina University. This book focuses on the enduring legacy of Daniel Coit Gilman, the father of the modern research university.

John

Boel

Cast Away: Five Generations of Family Fish Stories

As he approaches the 100th Emmy Award of his journalism career, John Boel has devoted much of his life to the craft of storytelling. Cast Away is his memoir, containing five generations of fish stories. Funny ones. Sad ones. Ones that got away. Times we got it right.

Stephen Bright + James Kwak

The Fear of Too Much Justice: Race, Poverty, and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Courts

Stephen Bright teaches at the law schools at Yale and Georgetown Universities. He spent over 40 years representing people facing the death penalty. James Kwak is immediate past chair of the Southern Center for Human Rights. The Fear of Too Much Justice is an examination of injustices occurring in criminal courts today and a practical look at how they can be corrected.

Bryan Bush Louisville’s Gambling Barons

Bryan Bush has been a Civil War re-enactor for 20 years, portraying an artillerist. Louisville’s Gambling Barons returns the reader to the golden age of gambling that Louisville experienced between 1860 and 1885, thanks to the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers by steamboat and foot.

Sherman Cahal, Adam Paris + Michael Maes Abandoned Kentucky

Sherman Cahal is a photographer and historian specializing in documenting Appalachian architecture and culture. Adam Paris is an architectural photographer and historian. Michael Maes is an artist and photographer and has been documenting abandoned homes for almost two decades. The images in Abandoned Kentucky offer us a window into our past and stir a sense of wonder about those who have gone before us and the lives they lived.

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers is the Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor of History and gender studies at Indiana University Bloomington. This book tells the story of Julia Ann Chinn (ca. 1796-1833), the enslaved mixed-race wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, U.S. Vice President under Martin Van Buren.

Jennifer Chesak

The Psilocybin Handbook for Women: How Magic Mushrooms, Psychedelic Therapy, and Microdosing Can Benefit Your Mental, Physical, and Spiritual Health

Jennifer Chesak is an awardwinning freelance science and medical journalist, editor, and factchecker based in Nashville, TN. The Psilocybin Handbook for Women is a resource for everyone, although it features information specific to those assigned female at birth, because psychedelics may have different effects and applications across the sexes.

John Cimprich

Navigating Liberty: Black Refugees and Antislavery Reformers in the Civil War South

After earning three history degrees, John Cimprich taught primarily at Thomas More College (now University) and retired as professor emeritus. Navigating

Liberty comprehensively examines the interaction between escaped slaves and antislavery Northerners in federally occupied areas of the South during the Civil War.

Byron Crawford

The Back Page: Byron Crawford’s Kentucky Living Columns

In this collection of essays, veteran television and newspaper journalist Byron Crawford shares stories about Kentucky’s rural people and places, ranging from the humorous to the poignant to the profound. Collected in a keepsake edition, Crawford’s Kentucky Living columns will delight readers for years to come.

Kevin Lane Dearinger

Eleanor Robson Belmont: A Theatrical Life

Kevin Lane Dearinger is a retired Broadway actor-singer and English teacher. Mrs. Belmont was an actor for 13 glorious years, but those years were crucial preparation for her long life as a social reformer and arts activist.

Normandi Ellis

The Ancient Tradition of Angels: The Power and Influence of Sacred Messengers

Normandi Ellis is an award-winning writer, workshop facilitator, and director of metaphysical studies at Chesterfield Spiritualist College. In this in-depth study into the mystery and purpose of angels, she looks at the angelic dimensions of spiritual traditions around the world from the ancient past to the present day.

Martha Greenwald Who We Lost: A Portable COVID Memorial

Martha Greenwald is the editor of the anthology Who We Lost: A Portable COVID Memorial and Founding Director/Curator of The WhoWeLost Project. Her first collection of poetry, Other Prohibited Items, was the winner of the Mississippi Review Poetry Series. She is the winner of the 2020 Yeats Prize.

Kosair Charities is now Kosair for Kids.

While an adjustment to our name, it is no detour from our century-old commitment to kids.

Kosair for Kids will continue to enhance the health and well-being of children by delivering financial support for healthcare, research, education, social services, and child advocacy.

And by doing so we will create joy... one child, one family, one day at a time.

To make a donation, scan the QR code or visit: kosair.org

Sarah L. Hall

+ Meg Wilson

Sown in the Stars: Planting by the Signs

Sarah L. Hall is associate professor of agriculture and natural resources at Berea College. Meg Wilson, a Berea College alum, is a graduate student in art and art history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Sown in the Stars brings together the collective knowledge of farmers in Central and Eastern Kentucky about the custom of planting by the signs.

Emily Hilliard

Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia

Emily Hilliard is a folklorist and writer based in Berea, KY. Making Our Future argues that folklore is a unifying concept that puts diverse cultural forms in conversation, as well as a framework that helps us reckon with the past, understand the present, and collectively shape the future.

Avalyn Hunter

Dream Derby: The Myth and Legend of Black Gold

Avalyn Hunter is a nationally recognized authority on Thoroughbred pedigrees and racing history. In this book, the author explores the personalities and histories that surrounded Black Gold. Hunter’s work looks behind every stall and tack room door and celebrates the hard work that goes into a great horse and its rivals.

Forgotten Southern Writer

Barbara Pendleton Jones is a retired psychologist living in Virginia. This volume, researched and written by Tula’s great-niece, relates with empathy and insight the remarkable story of Tula’s life. It also collects, for the first time, all of her extant stories.

Erin Keane

Runaway: Notes on the Myths That Made Me

Erin Keane is the author of the memoir Runaway: Notes on the Myths That Made Me, one of NPR’s best books of 2022. Keane received her MFA in poetry from Spalding University in Louisville. She is the author of three collections of poems and an award-winning journalist.

Jennifer S. Kelly

Barbara Pendleton Jones

Tula Pendleton: The Life and Work of a

The

Foxes

of Belair: Gallant Fox, Omaha, and the Quest for the Triple Crown

Jennifer S. Kelly is a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in TwinSpires, Paulick Report, America’s Best Racing, and The Racing Biz. This book examines the racing legacies of Gallant Fox and Omaha and how William Woodward’s service to racing during the 20th century changed the landscape of the American Thoroughbred industry.

Don Lane + Sarah Jane Herbener

The Lane Way: Family, Faith, and Fifty Years in Basketball

Don Lane served for 26 years as head coach of the Transylvania University men’s basketball team. Sarah Jane Herbener helps people

preserve their life stories through her personal history service. In The Lane Way, co-written with Herbener, Coach Lane tells readers entertaining and moving stories about his life in coaching.

Linda Elisabeth LaPinta

Kentucky Quilts and Quiltmakers: Three Centuries of Creativity, Community, and Commerce

Linda Elisabeth LaPinta is the author of four previous books and hundreds of articles and book reviews. In Kentucky Quilts and Quiltmakers, the author provides a panoramic view of Kentucky quiltmaking from colonial America to the new millennium and the dynamic quilting industry of today.

Patrick Lee Lucas

Athens on the Frontier: Grecian-Style Architecture in the Splendid Valley of the West, 1820-1860

Patrick Lee Lucas is an associate professor in the College of Design and serves as a Provost Faculty Fellow at the University of Kentucky. Athens on the Frontier examines the material culture of Grecianstyle buildings in antebellum America to help recover 19th-century regional identities.

Keven McQueen

Creepy Kentucky

Keven McQueen is the author of 22 books covering American history, the supernatural, biography, historical true crime, and what he calls real-life surrealism. Enjoy stories of body snatchers, ghosts, bizarre demises, people who uncannily predicted their own deaths, strangely preserved bodies, and more.

Bill Meegan Remembering the Forgotten Merton

Bill Meegan is retired from full-time clinical practice and teaching in the graduate programs at the University of Kentucky and The Lexington Theological Seminary. Remembering the Forgotten Merton is the first book about Thomas Merton’s brother and illustrates that there is more than one way to live a meaningful and holy life.

Matthew Mitchell Winning Tools

Matthew Mitchell is a three-time SEC Coach of the Year and the winningest head coach in the history of the University of Kentucky’s basketball program. In a clear, straightforward style, Mitchell reveals the tools that made him and his teams successful: honesty, hard work, and discipline.

Katherine C. Mooney

James P. Moss My Recovery Companion

Dr. James P. Moss has served as a guest lecturer on surgery at Harvard University’s Medical Grand Rounds and as a guest faculty member at Yale University. My Recovery Companion is an alphabetical, easy-to-reference handbook to use in moments of struggle, or when confronted by challenging life and addiction issues.

Paul E. Patton + Jeffrey S. Suchanek

The Coal Miner Who Became Governor

Paul E. Patton served as the 59th governor of Kentucky, from 1995 to 2003. Born in Fallsburg, KY, he had a humble upbringing that held few clues about his future as one of the most prominent politicians in the history of the state. In The Coal Miner Who Became Governor, Patton, along with Jeffrey S. Suchanek, details his personal, professional, and political life in Kentucky, starting with his career in the coal industry.

Jeremy Popkin

Zelda Popkin: The Life and Times of an American Jewish Woman Writer

Bill Luxon

Exiled: The Climax and Surrender of Jimmy Stokley

Written by Bill Luxon, a founding member of the rock group Exile, this book details the cast of characters in the band’s rise up the charts, plus Stokley’s heart-wrenching fall from the fame he desperately desired and so richly deserved.

Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey

Katherine C. Mooney is James P. Jones Associate Professor of History at Florida State University. In Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey, Mooney uncovers the history of Murphy’s troubled life, his death in 1896 at age 35, and his legacy.

Jeremy Popkin, a longtime history professor at the University of Kentucky, turns his research and writing skills to the story of his grandmother, Zelda Popkin, a journalist, public relations specialist, and novelist who took part in and wrote about the big issues of her time, including women’s rights, the Holocaust, and the creation of the Jewish state of Israel.

1st story

2nd

Kids love this book about messy sneezes.

READ ALOUD

Begin with “Who’s Who with Mr. McBoom” easy peasy and fun!

6th

3rd

Oakley will make the kids laugh and spark lots of discussion about meeting new friends.

4th

Respecting authority keeps kids safe, and they will love the funny illustrations.

5th

The kids will cheer for the determination of Fred the frog!

I found the Baxter’s Corner series to be a great teaching tool for my young readers from preschool all the way up to 3rd grade. The kids love interacting with the puppets, and the dedicated corner in our library allows students to revisit all the books and characters throughout the year. The thoughtfully designed lessons make my job so much easier.

Stephanie Logsdon, NBCT Reading Interventionist Shelbyville, KY June 2022

PRESCOOLERS PROGRAM

• Entertaining and educational

• Values-driven curriculum

• Powerful conversational tool

• Easy to follow

• Use the suggested sequence or modify to meet the child’s needs

www.BaxtersCorner.com

502 386.1473

Mebs@MebsPage.com

BOOK DIVISION

®

Early conversations about standing up to bullies is powerful, and this is a story everyone can relate to.

7th

Ally learns that being different is okay, and so will the kids who listen to this story.

8th

This book is a fun way to learn about differences and talk about acceptance.

9th

Complete the series with a book about cooperation. It’s a great way to celebrate fun!

The Common Wealth of Kentucky Project

For 25 years, Beth Pride worked in education as a teacher, administrator, and consultant. Since beginning a career as an artist in 2008, Kentucky contemporary impressionist painter Kelly Brewer has developed a national and international following. In The Common Wealth of Kentucky Project, art and storytelling reveal the wealth of this land, the people who live here, and the common connections we, as humans, have with one another.

Stephen Reily Promise, Witness, Remembrance

Stephen Reily served as Director of the Speed Art Museum from 2017-2021. This book documents not just the 32 works featured in the exhibition (most never published before) but also the process by which the Speed used this opportunity to memorialize the life of Breonna Taylor.

James Harrod, Founder of Harrodsburg Kentucky

Bobbi Dawn Rightmyer is a lifelong native of Harrodsburg, KY, and she writes books of narrative historical nonfiction. In 1774, James Harrod founded the oldest permanent English settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains. Harrod was a soldier and pioneer who was instrumental in exploration of the area.

“This

Michael T. Benson, D.Phil. Author President, Coastal Carolina University

“ This book should be read by anyone interested in the history of education and the evolution of American society.”

– Jonathan Cole, Ph.D., Provost and Dean of Faculties Emeritus, Columbia University

A publication by the Speed Art Museum

In partnership with The University Press of Kentucky

painting and exhibition embody the idea of art for justice and demonstrate the potential power of art to heal.”

Darren Walker President, Ford Foundation

“[An] urgent call to action. . . . [and] an invaluable resource for advocates of criminal justice reform.”

—Publishers Weekly

Beth Pride + Kelly Brewer

Bobbi Dawn Rightmyer

Robyn Ryle Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy: The Evolution of Gender, Identity, and Race in Sports

Robyn Ryle is the author of two award-winning nonfiction books. Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy brings to attention the ways in which sports can contribute to inequalities while also demonstrating how sports can help create a more just world for everyone.

Penney Sanders

The Last Journey: A Road Map for Ending-of-Days

A graduate of Transylvania University, Penney Sanders received a master’s degree from the University of Louisville and a

Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in Canada. This book is a road map for the journey we all will make sooner or later.

Stuart W. Sanders

Anatomy of a Duel: Secession, Civil War, and the Evolution of Kentucky Violence

Stuart W. Sanders is former executive director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association. Anatomy of a Duel examines why white male Kentuckians engaged in the “honor culture” of duels and provides fascinating narratives that trace the lives of duelists and opponents.

Doris Dearen Settles

Kentucky in the War of 1812: The Governor, the Farmers and the Pig

While not a single battle of the

War of 1812 was fought on Kentucky soil, Kentuckians were involved from the beginning to the end. Multi-genre author Doris Dearen Settles explains how Kentuckians won the war of 1812, and why it is far more significant than textbooks record.

Christopher Stallard Waste into Taste: Turning Scraps into Delicious Dishes

Christopher Stallard is the head chef and owner of Michael Grant Gastronomy in Louisville, KY. In Waste into Taste, Stallard presents an inspiring collection of practical techniques and delicious recipes—some new, some honed throughout his distinguished culinary career—for utilizing scraps of various foods to eliminate waste and lower grocery costs.

Celebrating Spalding Writers at the 2023 Kentucky Book Festival

Frank X Walker, A Is for Affrilachia / Silas House, Lark Ascending / Erin Keane, Runaway

Crystal Wilkinson, Perfect Black / Chris Helvey, Last Train to Miami

Kathleen Driskell, The Vine Temple / Patricia L. Hudson, Traces spalding.edu/mfa

Matthew Strandmark

Gatewood: Kentucky’s Uncommon Man

Matthew Strandmark is an educator, researcher, and archivist. Gatewood: Kentucky’s Uncommon Man weaves together personal stories, public records, and oral history interviews to provide a comprehensive overview of the life and career of an eccentric and fascinating figure.

Emily Strasser

Half-Life of a Secret: Reckoning with a Hidden History

Emily Strasser’s award-winning essays have appeared in Ploughshares, Colorado Review, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, and elsewhere. In Half-Life of a Secret: Reckoning with a Hidden History, Strasser exposes the toxic legacy— political, political, environmental,

and personal—that forever polluted her family, a community, the nation, and the world.

Richard Taylor Fathers

Kentucky Poet Laureate for 19992000 and an inductee into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame, Richard Taylor is the author of numerous poetry collections, historical novels and books relating to Kentucky history. Fathers is a combination of memoir and creative nonfiction, focused on multiple fathers—both paternal and associational.

Milton C. Toby Unnatural Ability: The History of PerformanceEnhancing Drugs in Thoroughbred Racing

Milton C. Toby is an award-winning author, journalist, and attorney with

more than 40 years of experience in Thoroughbred racing and equine law. In Unnatural Ability, Toby addresses the historical and contemporary context of the Thoroughbred industry’s most pressing issue.

Alicestyne Turley

The Gospel of Freedom: Black Evangelicals and the Underground Railroad

Alicestyne Turley is director of Freedom Stories for the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, TN. The Gospel of Freedom seeks to fill the historical gaps and promote the lost voices of the Underground Railroad.

EIGHT YEARS AS KENTUCKY’S #1 HOSPITAL

Jamie H. Vaught

Forever Crazy About the Cats: An Improbable Journey of a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity

Veteran sportswriter Jamie H. Vaught has covered the University of Kentucky’s basketball program since his early college days. If you feel nostalgic for UK’s glorious basketball past, this 408-page hardcover could be of interest. It also contains football stories and inside accounts about the Kentucky Wildcats.

Gary P. West

King Kelly Coleman: Kentucky’s Greatest Basketball Legend Lives On

The authorized King Kelly Coleman story, never before in print, is recounted by award-winning author Gary P. West, based on interviews and information from Coleman himself. West is a freelance writer living in Bowling Green, KY.

Act of Power

That means eight years of leading-edge trials, breakthrough discoveries, nationally ranked specialties and dedication to helping Kentuckians live healthier lives — and we’re just getting started. See how at ukhealthcare.com/best Between Two Worlds Linda Bryant Davis

Davis

Kim Wickens

Lexington: The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America’s Legendary Racehorse

Kim Wickens grew up in Dallas, TX, and practiced as a criminal defense lawyer in New Mexico for 20 years. Lexington is the dramatic true story of the champion Thoroughbred racehorse who gained international fame in the tumultuous Civil War-era South and became the most successful sire in American racing history.

Scott E. Wigginton

Adventures to Godliness: Filling the Hole in Your Bucket List

Scott E. Wigginton, Ph.D., serves as Professor of Pastoral Ministries and Counseling at Campbellsville University. Adventures to Godliness blends scripture, practical wisdom, and fascinating stories with the in-depth insight of a seasoned soul shepherd to help readers contemplate a theology of adventure.

Events and authors are subject to change. Visit kybookfestival.org, for information including the latest updates.

2023 Featured Writer Linda Bryant

Mama Said

KRISTEN GENTRY

$19.99 PB

“This book has staying power. . . . [A] collection of brilliant stories that are of Kentucky, of Louisville, of Black communities throughout the United States.”

—Crystal Wilkinson

ALSO OF INTEREST

Clear Creek

Toward a Natural Philosophy

ERIK REECE

$21.99 PB

“We need more books like this out in the world, books that give us hints for how to be in a time of crisis.”

—David Gessner

OUR PARTNERS

2023 SPONSORS

KENTUCKY BOOK FESTIVAL DONORS

This list includes individuals and organizations who donated to the Kentucky Book Festival from September 2022 through August 15, 2023 (note: organizations who sponsored the Book Festival are listed above.)

AARP Kentucky State Office

Jerry Abramson

Helen C. Alexander

Robert W. Baird and Co., Inc.

Rogers Barde

Karl Benson

Janice Birdwhistell in memory of Terry Birdwhistell

Campbellsville University

Dennis and Jennifer Carrigan

Central Bank & Trust Co.

Nastasha Collier

Commonwealth of Kentucky

Toni Daniels in memory of Betty Maddox Daniels

Tom Eblen

Michael and Mary Embry

Hardscuffle, Inc.

James F. Hawk

Ellen Hellard in memory of Vic Hellard, Jr.

Christopher J. Helvey

Honorable Order of KY Colonels

Hap Houlihan

Joseph-Beth Booksellers

Kentucky Youth Advocates, Inc.

LFUCG

The Kentucky Book Festival is a program of

LG&E Foundation

Harris (Hank) and Sally Meves

Kathy Paynter

PNC Foundation

Carolyn Purcell

Snowy Owl Foundation

Spaulding University

Tallgrass Farm Foundation

Transylvania University

University of Kentucky

Jen Walker