Forty-first annual Kentucky Book Festival

 It will be a star-studded gathering of authors at the 41st annual Kentucky Book Festival on Saturday.

Around 150 authors, including yours truly, will take part in the day-long event at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington. It runs from 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. 

This will be my 11th appearance as an author, beginning in 1985 when it was called the Kentucky Book Fair and held in Frankfort. Newspaper journalist Carl West founded the fair in 1981. I also served on the executive board for six years, until it moved to Lexington in 2017 under the auspices of the Kentucky Humanities Council. 

This year's literary list of luminaries includes:

• 

  Jon Meacham

  Pulitzer-Prize-winning biographer Jon Meacham, author of "And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle."
  
• Best-selling author Barbara Kingsolver, a Kentucky native, will sign her latest novel, "Demon Copperhead."
• Pulitzer-Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks, with her latest release, "Horse." 
• Wendell Berry, a Kentucky literary legend and recipient of the National Humanities Medal, will have "The Need to be Whole: Patriotism and the History of Prejudice."
• Western Kentucky University English professor and award-winning novelist David Bell will have his latest, "The Finalists," to sign. 
  

  

  Barbara Kingsolver 

• Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson will have her prose and poetry collection, "Perfect Black."

   Among other notables are Silas House ("Lark Ascending"), former Kentucky poet laureate Frank X Walker ("Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York"), Bobbie Ann Mason ("Dear Ann"), Emily Bingham ("My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song"), former Kentucky poet laureate Richard Taylor ("Elkhorn: Evolution of a Kentucky Landscape"), and Ann Gabhart ("When the Meadow Blooms"). 

Geraldine Brooks

I belong to the Kentucky Writers Coalition, which will have six authors at the fair: Chris Helvey ("Into the Wilderness"), John Schaff and Robert Schrage ("Hidden Histories of Kentucky Political Scandals"), Georgia Green Stamper ("Small Acreages: New and Collected Essays"), Doris Dearen Settles ("Leira Clara's Flowers"), Richard Taylor (previous paragraph), and me ("Reunion of Familiar Strangers"). 

Click here for the complete author lineup, including books and bios.

Besides an opportunity to meet talented authors and have them sign their books, the festival will have panel discussions, interviews, and presentations throughout the day on many interesting subjects—for all ages. Click here for more information. Children's activities are listed here. 

Crystal Wilkinson

I almost forgot—the book festival is free (except for the books) and open to the public. It's a great time for book lovers and authors, and a wonderful opportunity to introduce youngsters to the joy of reading. 

Drop by Table 23 and say "hi." I'll have a bookmark for you that works on all books!

Until the next time . . .

Kentucky Book Fair Eve

In less than 12 hours I'll be heading to the 32nd annual Kentucky Book Fair. Nearly 200 authors and illustrators will be at the Frankfort Convention Center, signing books and talking to 4,000 or so patrons during the day.

This is a wonderful event for my state. In fact, I consider it one of the top attractions in the Bluegrass State. It's a time when the state focuses on reading and writing, readers and writers, and the good that comes from it.

Proceeds from the fair benefit public and school libraries and literacy programs. The fair has raised more than $350,000, and this year distributed $7,500 to seven school libraries. That may not sound like much, but with libraries under siege in my state, librarians are very thankful to have these grants to purchase books. 

Tonight I attended an authors reception at the Paul Sawyier Public Library in Frankfort. All the authors are looking forward to the grand event.

There are bigger book fairs -- but not that many --  but the one we have in Kentucky is one of the oldest in the nation. 

This year's fair will feature mystery writer Sue Grafton, two-time national college championship basketball coach Rick Pitino, and the nationally respected essayist-poet-novelist Wendell Berry. Other luminaries include Eleanor Clift, Ann B. Ross, Bobbie Ann Mason, George Ella Lyon, and....well, many, many more.

Check out the Kentucky Book Fair website or visit the Facebook page and you'll see what I'm writing about. I hope to see you there. 

Until the next time....