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Turkeyfoot

What will Kentucky Book Festival visitors find on your table?

I will have copies of my novel Turkeyfoot for sale.

Whom do you invite to stop by? Who will benefit from reading your book?

Anyone who loves Appalachian Literature, writing about place, and a story from the heart that’ll hit you in the gut. Fiction is a window into many different lives and I hope that I can show someone the face of those afflicted by the opioid crisis.

Could you please tell us something curious about you and/or your book?

I am a local writer from Eastern Kentucky and I write about the very place I call home. When I first moved to college I began writing fiction to express how deeply my community and loved ones had been hurt by opioid addiction, Turkeyfoot is the ultimate expression of those writings over the years. The novel revolves around a young girl who’s family is struggling with addiction as well as an older gentleman who has helped push pills into their small mountain town.

Is this your first time participating in Kentucky Book Festival? If yes – what are you looking forward to the most? If you’ve participated before – what was your favorite experience at the Festival?

Yes, I am looking forward to the opportunity to showcase my work in the place I write about and call home. I can’t wait to see what other authors are there and have the chance to talk to so many other people who love literature.

About the Author

A writer from Estill County, Kentucky, who received his BA in English from Berea College and an MA in Writing from the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing, Rick Childers serves as Berea College’s Appalachian Male Advocate and Mentor. In Turkeyfoot, the opioid epidemic has ravaged the namesake eastern Kentucky community and Sweetie Goodins has played no small part in feeding his neighbors’ bad habits, but before he can atone for any of his wrongdoings, he must either acknowledge his role in the lives ruined or continue paving a path of destruction.

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