What will Kentucky Book Festival visitors find on your table?
My newest book Will There Also Be Singing?, contains poems of witness and protest about Appalachia and the country as a whole. Many are written in borrowed voices taken, not from the headlines, but from the back pages—workers, flood survivors and others whose stories get ignored. Here, the political is personal.
Whom do you invite to stop by? Who will benefit from reading your book?
Many of these poems are rooted in the lives of Kentuckians—including my own life. If you are interested in issues such as environmental justice, workers health and human rights, you might find poems that speak to you. If you like to “color outside the lines” as a writer or reader, you might find my approach to including various voices of interest.
Could you please tell us something curious about you and/or your book?
I was born and raised in southeastern Kentucky, mostly in Breathitt County, though I have lived in Cincinnati since 1979. My first job was in my mom’s daycare center in Jackson, Kentucky where she cared for, among others, Sturgill Simpson. I published my first poem when I was 12, thanks to the Kentucky Poet-in-the-Schools program.
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 loved the opportunity to meet other readers and writers—many of whom I have stayed in touch with over the years. The opportunity to read on-stage with other Kentucky poets is an experience of a lifetime!
