What will Kentucky Book Festival visitors find on your table?
I will be selling On Rising Ground: The Life and Civil War Letters of John M. Douthit, 52nd Georgia Volunteer Infantry (Mercer U. Press), which has some interesting Kentucky connections. You’ll also find me, a Kentucky author: I was born in Lexington and grew up in Morehead, where my father taught history at Morehead State and coached track and cross country. My mother taught in the high school.
Whom do you invite to stop by? Who will benefit from reading your book?
Readers of American history, and especially Civil War buffs, will love my book. It is based on John’s letters home to his family from the places he served and fought. He describes guarding the southern approaches to Cumberland Gap and its fall into Confederate hands, as well as his participation in the failed Confederate invasion of Kentucky in fall 1862, which culminated in the Battle of Perryville. John also served in central Tennessee and fought in Mississippi at the Battles of Chickasaw Bayou and Champion Hill, before he and his brother were caught in Grant’s siege of Vicksburg. Anyone interested in the view of the common soldier will find my book enlightening.
Could you please tell us something curious about you and/or your book?
John M. Douthit was my great-great grandfather. My mother, who lived into her nineties, knew his wife Martha, who also lived into her nineties. The book includes my mother’s memories of her feisty great-grandmother, who was widowed by war. Also, my book solves the mystery of what happened to John and his brother Davis after Vicksburg; the family never knew why they didn’t come home from the war.
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?
I have participated twice before, with each of my Appalachian short story collections, Small Caucasian Woman and Brier Country. I loved meeting so many dedicated readers, especially school librarians looking to buy books for their libraries. I also enjoyed getting acquainted with other authors at the two receptions, one at the Governor’s mansion and the other at Buffalo Trace Distillery. And I sat all day next to R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps series. He sold more books than I did! I also enjoyed seeing so many Kentucky friends and fellow writers who stopped by my table. I bought a lot of books myself and am looking forward to doing so again.
