2023 Events

A is for Affrilachia takes center stage in this conversation! Frank X Walker and upfromsumdirt  in conversation with writer Crystal Wilkinson about this “Trojan horse disguised as a children’s book.”    

Stephen B. Bright is the author of The Fear of Too Much Justice, an examination of injustices occurring in criminal courts today and a practical look at how they can be corrected. He will be joined on stage with CNN’s Poppy Harlow for this discussion.  

Jessica Ward is a pseudonym for the #1 New York Times bestselling author who writes as J.R. Ward and has over 20 million copies in print.   We were happy to feature her on the Main Stage at noon to discuss her new book The St. Ambrose School for Girls.   Read her author interview […]

Kentucky writers with new memoirs gathered on Main Stage to discuss their writing process. Paul Patton, Erin Keane, Richard Taylor, Don Lane and John Boel were in conversation with writer Nana Lampton to get to the heart of these books. 

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers spoke about her book, The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn. This book tells the story of the enslaved mixed-race wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, US Vice President under Martin Van Buren.

The closing event of the 2023 Kentucky Book Festival was a poetry reading! Participating poets read a poem each from their featured books. Frank X Walker, Jessica D Thompson, Jeff Worley, Roberta Schultz, Jonathon Greene, Kathleen Driskell, Maurice Manning, Libby Falk Jones, Carolyn Grace, Norman Minnick, Willie Carver Jr and LeTonia Jones! Kentucky Poet Laureate […]

How to Create a Successful Podcast Is an MFA Right for You? Writing about Dogs Writing Nonfiction and Historical Fiction Bilingual Writing                   –

Come by the Children’s Tent for fun activities!