Kentucky’s premier literary event is set for Nov. 5 when readers and writers come together in celebration of books at the 35th annual Kentucky Book Fair at the Frankfort Convention Center. The event runs from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. with books signings, readings and panel discussions scheduled throughout the day.
In addition, the sixth annual KBF Kids Day is scheduled for Nov. 4 from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., also at the convention center. More than 500 elementary and middle school students from 13 schools will meet and talk with several authors of children’s and young adults books.
This year 170 local and national authors are scheduled to attend the book fair. About 3,500 readers come each year, too. Scheduled to appear are bestselling Kentucky writers Wendell Berry, Kim Edwards, Bobbie Ann Mason, Gurney Norman, Tiffany Reisz, Frank X Walker, J. R. Ward, Crystal Wilkinson and others. National authors include Craig Johnson, Juan F. Thompson (son of the late Hunter S. Thompson), Sharyn McCrumb, marriage equality advocate Jim Obergefell, Mark Wilkerson, and former U. S. Rep. Barney Frank.
The public can attend presentations and panel discussions with authors and guest scholars. Panel discussion topics include the role of food in southern identity, geek culture’s move into mainstream entertainment, and a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Affrilachian Poets.
This is the first year of a new management arrangement for the event. Previously operated by a nonprofit independent board of volunteers, the Kentucky Book Fair is now presented by the Kentucky Humanities Council, in partnership with the Kentucky Book Fair board. A complete list of events and authors may be found at http://www.kyhumanities.org/kentuckybookfair.html.
New books at the fair
Several authors previously mentioned in this column will sign their books at the Kentucky Book Fair. Among very recent releases, be sure to look for these.
Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes by Ronni Lundy (Clarkson Potter) is one of 2016’s best books with local connections. It’s also one of the most beautiful with amazing photographs by Johnny Autry of food, people and places throughout Appalachia. Lundy, a former Courier-Journal food critic and southern food authority, writes about food in a manner that recalls the past traditions but demonstrates a vibrant present within the local food movement. Most good food in the Mountain South has long been farm-to-table.
Lundy emphasizes the common threads of Appalachian food and gives recipes for new cooks wanting to discover the correct way to make cornbread (no sugar or flour) or shuck beans. But she also includes new twists on old favorites, like eggs with morels and ramps, or potato kale cakes, as well as the region’s diverse population. The author’s storytelling ability on the subject of food is what makes Victuals an outstanding book. By the way, there’s even a tutorial on how the title is pronounced.
Books | Celebrate freedom with these reads
Light Fantastic by Sarah Combs (Candlewick Press) is a young adult novel (grades 7 and above) that explores the pain and pathos of a generation of teenagers on the brink of a cross-country terror plot hatched on an anonymous Internet forum. The book is set on April Donovan’s eighteenth birthday – April 19 – which also happens to be senior skip day. It’s four days after the Boston Marathon bombing; the nation is on edge.
The tense and shocking story interweaves seven narratives over a period of three hours on one fateful day. Combs lives in Lexington and her debut novel was Breakfast Served Anytime.
Erik Reece has had a prolific year as an author, so he will be signing multiple books at the fair including his widely acclaimed Utopia Drive. An earlier review is at http://cjky.it/utopia-drive . Reece’s newest is a slender book of poetry called Animals at Full Moon illustrated with wood engravings by Lexington artist John Lackey. Reece mixes his beautiful descriptions of the natural world with classical literary imagery.
The book is published by Kentucky’s Larkspur Press with handset type on a hand-fed press on nice paper and then bound by hand. No surprise the book feels right in the hand. Larkspur also will have a booth at the book fair.
University Press of Kentucky is a sponsor of the fair and usually has a remarkable crop of fresh books for sale. Among its newest is Amphibians and Reptiles of Land Between the Lakes by David H. Snyder, A. Flood Scott, Edmund J. Zimmerer, and David Frymire, all experts and academics in the area.
Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is the largest inland peninsula in the United States. Situated between Kentucky Lake (Tennessee River) and Lake Barkley (Cumberland River), LBL has a unique ecosystem. This resource documents its salamanders, snakes, toads, lizards and frogs with color photographs and details for identification.
True stories behind infamous crime ballads
CrimeSong: True Crime Stories from Southern Murder Ballads by Richard H. Underwood (Shadelandhouse Modern Press) is a unique book that goes behind the words of well-known music to tell about the bad acts that inspired the songs.
For generations, American ballads have told stories of murder and mayhem. Underwood is well known in legal circles as a law professor at the University of Kentucky. His meticulous research and expertise in trial procedure combine to recount the details of criminal acts that became the basis for songs.
The book is published by a new small publisher in Lexington committed to publishing compelling nonfiction and fiction from established and emerging writers. Shadelandhouse produces high quality, artistic books, and acts as its own book distributor under a model that sells and distributes directly to consumers, retail stores, and libraries. Information about the press and its submission process is at smpbooks.com.
Warming up for basketball season
Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South by Andrew Maraniss (Vanderbilt University Press), an award-winning biography and New York Times bestseller in both sports and civil rights categories, was recently released in paperback. The author will read and sign books at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at Carmichael’s Books on Frankfort Avenue.
The acclaimed book tells the story of Vanderbilt’s Perry Wallace, the first African-American basketball player in the SEC. Strong Inside is not just the story of a trailblazing athlete, but of civil rights, race in America, a campus in transition during the tumultuous 1960s, the emotional toll of pioneering, decades of ostracism, and eventual reconciliation and healing.
There are many Kentucky connections to Wallace’s story. His coach at Vanderbilt was Roy Skinner, who was from Paducah. Wallace was recruited by Louisville and Kentucky, and after college he was drafted by the Kentucky Colonels of the old American Basketball Association. He signed instead with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Greenwell longlisted for National Book Award
Former Louisvillian Garth Greenwell’s debut novel, What Belongs to You, is one of 10 new books longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award in fiction. Winners will be announced November 16. The Courier-Journal book review of What Belongs to You and an interview with the author is found at http://cjky.it/what-belongs
Established in 1950, the National Book Award is a major American literary prize administered by the National Book Foundation. Past winners include William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, Walker Percy, John Updike, Katherine Anne Porter, Norman Mailer, Flannery O’Connor, Adrienne Rich, and Alice Walker.
Books for young readers
Applesauce Weather by Helen Frost (Candlewick Press) is a lovely poetic novel for ages 8-12 with illustrations by Amy June Bates. Frost, an award-winning poet from Indiana, has written a tender story about the strength of love as a family faces annual traditions during apple season for the first time since the loss of a beloved family member.
Little Silver Charm by Dan Rhema (Old Friends Press) is a sweet tale of Little Silver Charm, a miniature horse that actually lives at Old Friends Farm, a home for retired Thoroughbred horses in Lexington. The book is a charming introduction to the work being done on equine retirement farms.
Public readings at U of L
Fiction writers Lauren Groff and Merritt Tierce will read from their work and teach master classes at the University of Louisville this fall. The university’s creative writing program offers the public readings and classes through the Anne and William Axton Reading Series.
Tierce, a Texas-based writer, will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 in the Bingham Poetry Room of Ekstrom Library. She will also lead a two-hour master class at 10 a.m. Oct. 21 in Room 300 in the Bingham Humanities Building. Her novel Love Me Back was named a best book of 2014 by the Chicago Tribune. Her first published story was anthologized in the 2008 New Stories from the South, and her work has appeared in the New York Times and other publications.
Groff will deliver a public keynote reading at 5 p.m. November 5 at the Tim Faulkner Gallery, 1512 Portland Avenue, in conjunction with the Louisville Literary Arts Writer’s Block Festival. She was a 2015 National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist for her third novel Fates and Furies. Her other books include Arcadia, The Monsters of Templeton, and Delicate Edible Birds.
For more information, check http://louisville.edu/english/creative-writing/axton-reading-series
Jayne Moore Waldrop is a Lexington writer and attorney. She received her M.F.A. in creative writing from Murray State University. Her monthly book column appears in Forum the first Sunday of every month. Share local literary news with her atkyliterature101@gmail.com.
