2022 Author Lineup
Find information about each author participating in the Kentucky Book Festival this year. Unless noted otherwise, the authors listed on this page are scheduled to sign books on Saturday, October 29, 2022 at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. The lineup is subject to change; check back often as we update this page.
Schedule information, as well as links for tickets to programs with Meacham and Kingsolver, is available under the Events tab.
Click “Tiled View” below for a snapshot of featured books, or choose “Row View” to see info about the book and author together. To filter by genre, click the genre you prefer to view from the list below.
Non-Fiction | Fiction | Poetry | Children’s-Middle Grade | Young Adult
Barbara Kingsolver
Jon Meacham
Wendell Berry
Crystal Wilkinson
Geraldine Brooks
Silas House
Growing up in Kentucky halfway between Troublesome Creek and Hell-for-Certain and near a town named Hazard, Nancy learned to take the non-risky route of looking before leaping. After a peek at a school’s collection of books, she leaped into a profession she couldn’t resist—librarian. During the day she read to children and at night wrote for them. Working with children in a variety of jobs primed her for her present and future venture, writing.
Her first book was published in 1999 and her latest is book number 52, Dear Vampire, which received a five-star review by the Books Children Read organization.
WILL HILLENBRAND is a celebrated children’s author and illustrator whose published works include over 70 books. He uses a combination of traditional drawing methods and direct impression media to create his magical illustrations.
Amanda Driscoll was born, raised, and still resides in Louisville, Kentucky. She is the author and illustrator of four picture books: Little Grump Truck (2021), Klondike Do Not Eat Those Cupcakes! (2018), Wally Does Not Want a Haircut (2016), and Duncan the Story Dragon (2015), all published by Knopf. For more information about Amanda and her books, visit her website at: www.amandadriscoll.com.
Jessica Young grew up in Ontario, Canada. The same things make her happy now as when she was a kid: dancing, painting, music, digging in the dirt, picnics, reading, and writing. When she was little, she wanted to be a tap-dancing flight attendant/ veterinarian, but she’s changed her mind!
Ada Limón is the twenty-fourth U.S. Poet Laureate as well the author of The Hurting Kind and five other collections of poems.
Wendell Berry was born in Henry County, Kentucky, in 1934, and lives and farms with his wife, Tanya Berry, close to the place of his birth. A poet, critic, storyteller, and activist, he has written more than fifty books.
M earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism at Indiana University before studying literature and creative writing in graduate school, receiving her master’s degree from Miami University and her doctorate from the University of Cincinnati, where she was a Taft Fellow. She has been nominated five times for the Pushcart Prize and was shortlisted for the Aesthetica creative writing award.
David Bell is a USA Today bestselling, award-winning author whose work has been translated into multiple foreign languages. He’s currently a professor of English at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
David W. Blight is a teacher, scholar and award-winning public historian. He is Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition.
Professor Blight’s most recent book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, won nine book awards, including the Pulitzer Prize.
Blight previously taught at Amherst College for thirteen years. In 2013-14 he was the William Pitt Professor of American History at Cambridge University. David works in many capacities in the world of public history, including on boards of museums and historical societies, and as an advisor to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum team of curators. In 2012, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
William Hinkebein’s interest in antique tackle began in 1990 when he discovered an old tackle box (1940s) in a barn on his farm in Kentucky. Art B. Lander, Jr. has been writing about the outdoors in Kentucky since the 1970s.
Christopher Rowe has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Neukom Institute, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards. His stories have been frequently reprinted, translated into a half-dozen languages around the world, and praised by the New York Times Book Review. His short fiction was collected in Telling the Map from Small Beer Press.
Paul Volponi is an author, journalist, and educator. Lenny Shulman is an Emmy Award-winning television and film writer.
Chad Oldfather has ridden horses just enough times to appreciate how difficult it is to do well. He has also mucked stalls, cleaned tack, stacked hay, helped fix fences, and logged hundreds of hours ringside as his daughters have taken lessons and ridden in shows.
Home Waters: A Chronicle of Family and a River is John N. Maclean’s sixth book. An award winning author and journalist, he spent thirty years at the Chicago Tribune, most of that time as a Washington correspondent, before taking up a second career as an author. Maclean is the son of Norman Maclean, author of A River Runs through It, the acclaimed novella about life in early twentieth century Montana.
Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer. The Rogers Chair in the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, he is the author of the New York Times bestsellers His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, American Gospel, and Franklin and Winston.
Geraldine Brooks is the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel March and the international bestsellers Caleb’s Crossing, People of the Book, and Year of Wonders.
Christopher Denise is the illustrator of many critically acclaimed books for young readers including Alison McGhee’s Firefly Hollow, Rosemary Wells’ Following Grandfather, Anne Marie Pace’s Groundhug Day, as well as several in Brian Jacques’s Redwall series.
Barbara Kingsolver is the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including the novels Unsheltered, Flight Behavior, The Lacuna, The Poisonwood Bible, Animal Dreams, and The Bean Trees, as well as books of poetry, essays, and creative nonfiction.
Kristin O’Donnell Tubb is the author of The Decomposition of Jack, Luna Howls at the Moon, Zeus Dog of Chaos, The Story Collector series, and A Dog Like Daisy. Kristin lives near Nashville, Tennessee with her bouncy-loud family. Just like her two dogs, she can be bribed with cheese.
Bryan Prosek is a young adult writer and business attorney. Along with his debut The Brighter the Stars and recently published A Measure of Serenity, he has published books and articles in legal trade journals and magazines. When he isn’t writing or practicing law, you can probably find him watching dystopian and science fiction movies or television shows. He loves the big screen and the small screen.
de de began pursuing her dream of becoming a romance author at the age of 30. Born and raised on the farm in Rooster Run, Kentucky, de de was raised on the core values of the 3Cs (kindness, caring, and compassion).
Chris Helvey is an award-winning short-story writer and the author of the novels Yard Man, Dancing on the Rim, Violets for Sergeant Schiller, The White Jamaican and Into the Wilderness (Wings ePress), One More Round (short story collection-Trajectory Press), Snapshot (novel-Livingston Press), Whose Name I Did Not Know (novel-Hopewell Publications), and Claw Hammer (short story collection — Hopewell Publications).
Debbie Dadey has two new books out this year: A Titanic Friendship (Mermaid Tales #22) and the Frankenstein Doesn’t Plant Petunias graphic novel (The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids). Let the mermaid and monster fun begin as this Kentucky native travels from her log cabin in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to join this year’s Kentucky Book Festival fun.
Licensed and ordained minister has been writing non-fiction for 40 years. Has lived in Kentucky his entire life.
Seminary Doctorate degrees in Christian Counseling and Christian Education. Weekly freelance self-syndicated newspaper faith columnist for over 200 newspapers around the country.
WILL HILLENBRAND is a celebrated children’s author and illustrator whose published works include over 70 books. He uses a combination of traditional drawing methods and direct impression media to create his magical illustrations.
Keven McQueen is author of 20 books covering American history, the supernatural, biography, historical true crime, and what he calls real-life surrealism. His books include Horror in the Heartland: Strange and Gothic Tales from the Midwest, Creepy California: Strange and Gothic Tales from the Golden State, Weird Wild West: True Tales of the Strange and Gothic, and New England Nightmares: True Tales of the Strange and Gothic. His work has been anthologized by the Jesse Stuart Foundation and Texas Christian University Press.
Elizabeth Beck is the author of the SUMMER TOUR Trilogy as well as four collections of poems. Broadstone Books published “Mama Tried,” a collection of teacher-mother poems April 2022 in coordination with “Under the Elm,” the final book of the SUMMER TOUR Trilogy. Founder of The Teen Howl Poetry Series that serves children in central Kentucky, Elizabeth has been a teacher for twenty-five years. She is a recipient of a Kentucky Foundation for Women Artist Grant.
Brittany J. Thurman is the author of Fly, from Caitlyn Dlouhy Books. She is the co-author of Fearless: Boulevard of Dreams, by Mandy Gonzalez. Brittany holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University. During her graduate years at Carnegie Mellon University, Brittany’s plays were produced in Aspen, Colorado, and on New York’s City’s Theatre Row.
Greg Howard was born and raised in the South Carolina Lowcountry where his love of stories blossomed at a young age. Originally set on becoming a songwriter, Greg followed that dream to Nashville, Tennessee, where he spent years producing the music of others before eventually returning to his childhood passion of writing stories.
LEE COLE was born and grew up in rural Kentucky. A recent graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he now lives in New York.
Lori Degman is the author of the award-winning picture books, Just Read (illus. by Victoria Tentler-Krylov), 2020 — 2021 Illinois Reads Book List; Cock-a-Doodle Oops! (illus. by Deborah Zemke), 2014 International Literacy Association Honor Book; and 1 Zany Zoo (illus. by Colin Jack), 2010 Winner of the Cheerios New Author Contest and 2013 Illinois Reads Book List.
Dan Canon is a civil rights lawyer and a Professor of Law at the University of Louisville, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. He served as lead counsel for the Kentucky plaintiffs in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, which established marriage equality in all 50 states, and has been involved in many other high-profile cases. He writes on civil and criminal justice issues for a variety of regional and national publications.
Mallory Lewis is a prolific author of children’s literature, an Emmy Award-winning performer, and dedicated philanthropist who has raised millions for breast cancer research. Since the death of her mother Shari Lewis in 1998, she has appeared with Lamb Chop and entertained audiences across thousands of venues around the world.
Jessica Strawser is the editor-at-large at Writer’s Digest, where she served as editorial director for nearly a decade and became known for her in-depth cover interviews with such luminaries as David Sedaris and Alice Walker. She’s the author of the book club favorites Almost Missed You, a Barnes & Noble Best New Fiction pick; Not That I Could Tell, a Book of the Month bestseller; Forget You Know Me, awarded a starred review by Publishers Weekly, and A Million Reasons Why, called “a standout” in a starred Booklist review and named to Most Anticipated lists from Goodreads, SheReads, Frolic, E! News & others. Her latest, The Next Thing You Know, is a People Magazine Pick for Best New Novel (new March 2022, all from St. Martin’s Press).
Arwen Donahue is an interdisciplinary writer, artist, and oral historian. She is the author and illustrator of the graphic memoir Landings: A Crooked Creek Farm Year (Hub City Press), which includes an introduction by New York Times bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver. She is also the author of This Is Home Now: Kentucky’s Holocaust Survivors Speak (University Press of Kentucky).
Michael Embry was born in Kentucky a long time ago. Among his Bluegrass “hometowns” are Campbellsville, Hopkinsville, Jeffersontown, Louisville, Leitchfield, Lexington, Madisonville, Morehead, and Richmond. He also lived in Oklahoma City during his childhood.
Georgia Green Stamper is the author of three creative non-fiction books. Her essays have appeared in multiple anthologies, and she contributes work regularly to Kentucky Humanities and other periodicals and newspapers.
George Ella Lyon is a poet, writer, teacher, musician, and social activist with Appalachian roots and a global reach. She has published five poetry collections, a novel and memoir for adults, novels and poetry for young people, and many children’s picture books.
Jyoti Thottam is a senior Opinion editor at The New York Times. Prior to joining the Times, she was a reporter, editor and foreign correspondent. From 2008 to 2012, she was Time’s South Asia Bureau Chief in New Delhi, where she wrote numerous cover stories, including award-winning stories about the Ganges River and the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
Driskell is Chair of the Naslund-Mann Graduate School Of Writing at Spalding University. Yocom is the associate director for communications and alumni relations at Spalding University. Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Spalding low-residency MFA in Writing program, Creativity & Compassion collects essays from the MFA faculty blog.
T. L. McBeth was born in Findlay, Ohio. As a child, he grew up reading Dr. Seuss and H. A. & Margret Rey (although he mainly looked at the pictures). He studied illustration in college where he developed a love for expressive and minimal characters. In 2015, he moved to New York City to pursue an illustration career and he is currently lucky enough to illustrate picture books full time.
Danica Novgorodoff is a writer and New York Times best-selling illustrator. Her books include the graphic novels Long Way Down, written by Jason Reynolds; Slow Storm; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; and Refresh Refresh; and the picture books Alexander von Humboldt: Explorer, Naturalist, and Environmental Pioneer; and Not a Cat, written by Winter Miller.
Christine Herren is from Lexington, KY and has a BA in Arts Administration/Theatre and a MS in Community Leadership Development from the University of Kentucky. She works for Life Plan of Kentucky in Special Needs Trust Planning.
Frank X Walker, the first African American writer to be named Kentucky Poet Laureate, is an artist and educator. He has published eleven collections of poetry, including Masked Man, Black: Pandemic & Protest Poems and Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, which received an NAACP Image Award and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Honor Book Award. The recipient of the Thomas D. Clark Award for Literary Excellence, he is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets.
R.J. Jacobs has practiced as a psychologist since 2003. He maintains a private practice in Nashville, focusing on a wide variety of clinical concerns. After completing a post-doctoral residency at Vanderbilt, he has taught Abnormal Psychology, presented at numerous conferences, and routinely performs PTSD evaluations for veterans.
Carmen Oliver is the author of many award-winning picture books for children including A Voice for the Spirit Bears: How One Boy Inspired Millions to Save a Rare Animal, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard, Building an Orchestra of Hope: How Favio Chavez Taught Children to Make Music From Trash, a Junior Library Gold Standard (Oct 25, 2022), and The Twilight Library (Sept 6, 2022).
Jessica Young grew up in Ontario, Canada. The same things make her happy now as when she was a kid: dancing, painting, music, digging in the dirt, picnics, reading, and writing. When she was little, she wanted to be a tap-dancing flight attendant/ veterinarian, but she’s changed her mind!
After a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, Lynn Slaughter earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Her coming-of-age romantic mysteries include DEADLY SETUP. as well as LEISHA’S SONG, a Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards bronze medalist, Agatha nominee, and Imadjinn Finalist; WHILE I DANCED, an EPIC finalist; and IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU, a Silver Falchion finalist.
Saadia Faruqi was born in Pakistan and moved to the United States when she was 22 years old. She writes the Yasmin series and popular middle-grade novels such as Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero.
Laura Krantz is a print and audio journalist whose critically acclaimed podcast Wild Thing explores the intersection between science and society. She spent ten years as an editor and producer with NPR in Washington, D.C. and KPCC in Los Angeles, and her work has appeared in Smithsonian, Outside, and Popular Science.
Julie Whitney is a public relations professional with forty years of experience in public relations and marketing, having worked on both the agency and client side as well as in the television industry. Her company, Phillippi-Whitney Communications, LLC, founded in 2000, represents both large and small clients in a wide variety of industries.
Dr. Benjamin Gilmer is a family medicine physician in Fletcher, North Carolina. He is an Albert Schweitzer Fellow for Life and associate professor in the department of family medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine at Chapel Hill and at the Mountain Area Health Education Center.
Timothy Pack is an illustrator, artist, and writer who lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife of 40 years. They have four adult sons and five grandchildren. Pack’s family and life experience in pastoral care and missionary chaplaincy have continually inspired his art, poetry, and songs.
A resident of Lexington, Kentucky, Stan “JR” Zerkowski is the founder of Lexington UNITED Interfaith Encounters and Lexington UNITED Interfaith Dialogues. He designed and facilitated Lexington’s first Pride Interfaith Service at the historic Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center to cap Lexington Pride Month and the Lexington Pride Festival, bringing together more than 26 interfaith leaders—Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Muslims—as well as civic and community leaders, including Lexington’s mayor.
Winfrey P. Blackburn, Jr. is a practicing attorney in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a native of Frankfort, Kentucky, and holds both bachelor’s and law degrees, with honors, from the University of Virginia.
Jason Koger became the first bilateral arm amputee in the world to be fitted with multi-articulating bionic hands after losing both hands in a traumatic ATV accident in 2008. Today, he encourages others to live a life without limitations.
Mark Reese served Estill County in the mid-1970s as an Extension agent for 4-H. He served in various Extension roles and retired as Scott County Extension Agent for Agriculture.
Paul William Bass was born in Independence, Missouri. He graduated from William Chrisman High School, Southwest Baptist College and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He married Jan Smashey in 1969. He served in full-time church staff positions for nineteen years in Arkansas, Alabama, and Missouri.
Kelcey Ervick was a goalkeeper for a nationally ranked soccer team before playing for Xavier University. She is the author of three award winning books, including LILIANE’S BALCONY, which Publisher’s Weekly described in a starred review as “a symphony of histories both real and imagined.” She is co-editor, with Tom Hart, of the forthcoming Field Guide to Graphic Literature.
Ann Hagedorn is a former staff writer for The Wall Street Journal and an award-winning author of six narrative nonfiction books that embrace a broad range of topics and were widely reviewed with coverage including the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, NPR, Time, Smithsonian, The New York Review of Books, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, and The Washington Post.
Bobi Conn was born in Morehead, Kentucky, and raised in a nearby holler, where she developed a deep connection with the land and her Appalachian roots. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at Berea College, the first school in the American South to integrate racially and to teach men and women in the same classrooms.
During Eric Deters’ law career, he once was the #1 viewed law profile in the country on the national law website martindale.com. Cincinnati City Beat magazine once named him the #1 lawyer and troublemaker in the city. Chuck Martin of the Cincinnati Enquirer on January 2, 2008, gave Eric the nickname “Courtroom Bulldog.” From 2010 to now, over ten years, Eric Deters has managed the Dr. Durrani litigation, the subject matter of this book.
Mary Kay Carson is an author of books for young people about wildlife, space, weather, nature, and history. After studying biology in college, and a stint in the Peace Corps, she began her writing career working on the Scholastic classroom magazine SuperScience. Her books have received more than a dozen starred reviews, as well as multiple awards, including the 2019 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books for Alexander Graham Bell for Kids.
Terry Hatton is an athlete, actor, radio personality, entrepreneur, and storyteller. Jeremy Rice is a fiction writer, poet, and essayist.
Richard Parker is the vice-president of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society and has authored several articles and book reviews that have been published in the Journal of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society.
Beth Pugh is a Selah Award finalist and local award-winning author who has been published by Woman’s World, The Good Men Project, Scary Mommy, Sasee, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Lexington Herald-Leader, and On Parenting at The Washington Post. Born and raised in the rolling hills of eastern Kentucky, she learned early on that nothing compares to a home cooked meal, front porch sitting, and Sunday morning church services.
Author Dennis Carrigan is a resident of the Ashland neighborhood in Lexington, Kentucky.
C.W. “Cliff” Shumate was born in the late 1950s and grew up on a farm near Carlisle, Kentucky. Rural activities were highlighted by daily chores and interaction with humans, animals, and nature. Shumate is a graduate of Nicholas County Schools and earned an agriculture degree from Morehead State University. “Farming allowed the opportunity to exercise both my back and mind,” says Shumate. “I was blessed by Kentucky farm life, which often included association with fascinating folks who sure could spin a yarn.” Evenings were regularly enjoyed at a nearby country store with locals sharing cold sodas and a broad spectrum of tall tales. Shumate became hooked and gained a strong affection for Kentucky folklore.
Kentucky entrepreneur Steve Wilson is known for his unique approach to farming, tourism and hospitality. With wife Laura Lee Brown, he co-founded 21c Museum Hotels, Kentucky Bison Co., Garage Bar, and Barn8 Restaurant.
Ron Ellis is the author of Cogan’s Woods and Brushes with Nature: The Art of Ron van Gilder and editor of In That Sweet Country: Uncollected Writings of Harry Middleton and Of Woods & Waters: A Kentucky Outdoors Reader. He is a contributor to the anthologies A Passion for Grouse: The Lore and Legend of America’s Premier Game Bird, Astream: American Writers on Fly Fishing, Afield: American Writers on Bird Dogs, and The Gigantic Book of Hunting Stories.
James Baker Hall (1935-2009) was born in Lexington, Kentucky. He was raised in a southern family of means, only to have a family scandal turn tragic when he was eight years old. This trauma, and its enduring consequences, would shape Hall’s life work as an artist, which began when he took up photography at age eleven. Hall’s work will be represented by his wife, Mary Ann Taylor-Hall.
Nancy Stearns Theiss,PhD., is the Executive Director of the Oldham County History Center. She was a featured history columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal from 2007-2017. She has received numerous recognition for her work and service to the community. Her major emphasis is community and public history. This is her third publication for The History Press.
Rachel Elliott is an author-illustrator of comics and books for young people. Her debut middle grade graphic novel, The Real Riley Mayes, was released in May of 2022. If you love secret codes, parallel cat universes, and dude-ish girls who act out humorous death scenes, you’ll want to read this book.
Dr. Susan Howell is a psychologist on faculty at Campbellsville University where she teaches courses in gender studies and the integration of faith and psychological science. She has published extensively on gendered socialization and its impact for women within their families, society, and the church. Much of her work has been published by the Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE) organization and can be accessed through their website (cbeinternational.org).
LO PATRICK is a former lawyer and current novelist living in the suburbs of Atlanta. The Floating Girls is her debut.
Amanda Driscoll was born, raised, and still resides in Louisville, Kentucky. She is the author and illustrator of four picture books: Little Grump Truck (2021), Klondike Do Not Eat Those Cupcakes! (2018), Wally Does Not Want a Haircut (2016), and Duncan the Story Dragon (2015), all published by Knopf. For more information about Amanda and her books, visit her website at: www.amandadriscoll.com.
Amy Argetsinger is an editor for the Style section of The Washington Post, where she has overseen media and political coverage and longform features. A native of Alexandria, Va. and graduate of the University of Virginia, she started her journalism career in Illinois, then joined The Post in 1995, where she covered the Maryland suburbs, higher education and the West Coast before becoming author of the paper’s signature gossip column, The Reliable Source.
Amelia Zachry was born and raised in Malaysia. She obtained a bachelor of commerce, majoring in marketing from Curtin University of Technology, Australia. When she met her husband, she moved to live with him in Japan, then Canada. During her time in Canada she obtained a bachelor’s in human ecology with a concentration in family studies from the University of Western Ontario.
Igiaba Scego was born in Rome in 1974 to a family of Somali ancestry. She holds a PhD in education on postcolonial subjects and has done extensive academic work in Italy and around the world. Her memoir La mia casa è dove sono won Italy’s prestigious Mondello Prize. She is a frequent contributor to the magazine Internazionale and to Il Venerdì di Repubblica, a supplement to La Repubblica.
Robert Schrage is very active in local history circles and has served on the boards of the Rabbit Hash Historical Society, Boone County Historic Preservation Board and the Behringer Crawford Board. In 2015, Schrage received the William Conrad Preservation Excellence Award for Lifetime Achievement in preservation of local history. John Schaaf retired as executive director of the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission, where he worked for fifteen years, and served on the steering committee of the international Council on Governmental Ethics Laws.
Dr. John Huang is a retired orthodontist and military veteran. He currently serves as a reporter and sports columnist for Nolan Group Media and as lead writer for the website JustTheCats.com. He enjoys covering University of Kentucky sports and writing books.
Kevin Cook has degrees in engineering and American history. His published works include a comprehensive study of the Rochester Royals’ NBA franchise in Rochester History, articles in the Jessamine Journal and German Life, and a self-published travel memoir titled Where Am I, Rick Steves?
Stephen Perrine has been an author, editor, or publisher on more than two dozen New York Times bestsellers, including the Eat This, Not That! series. A nutritionist and exercise physiologist, Heidi Skolnik has appeared on national media including the Today show, Live! With Kelly and Michael, and the Food Network.
W. Ron Adams was born and raised in Western Kentucky, where he was one of the state’s leading high school basketball players from 1972-75. He dreamed of playing in the NBA, and seemed to be a heading in that direction, until a coal mining accident left him a quadriplegic at the age of 19.
Jeremy Paden is a professor of Spanish at Transylvania University. He is the author of “ruina montium,” a chapbook about the 2010 mining collapse in Copiapó, Chile, and “prison recipes”, a chapbook about a period of state sponsored violence in Argentina during the late 1970s.
From piloting fighter jets to commanding operations, Steven Walker led a career in defense and government while also pursuing a varied academic path. Along the way he gained degrees in archaeology and ancient history, management and research, defense and strategic
studies, and cultural heritage.
Mary Perdue is a freelance turf writer and a winner of the Equus WINNIE award.
Heather Wibbels is an award-winning mixologist, chair of the Bourbon Women Board of Directors, photographer, and digital content creator. Wibbels works with brands and companies to develop cocktails and deliver cocktail education for home mixologists and cocktail enthusiasts, turning cocktail lovers into whiskey drinkers one drink at a time.
Luke Manget is assistant professor of history at Dalton State College in Dalton, Georgia. He is a contributor to Southern Communities: Identity, Conflict, and Memory in the Nineteenth-Century American South, edited by Steven E. Nash and Bruce E. Stewart.
Farrah Alexander is a writer whose work focuses on feminism, parenting, social justice, politics, and current events. Her work has been featured in HuffPost, BUST, and Scary Mommy. She is the author of Raising the Resistance: A Mother’s Guide to Practical Activism.
Donald A. Ritchie is historian emeritus of the United States Senate. Terry L. Birdwhistell is founding director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History and served as Dean of University of Kentucky Libraries.
Richard Taylor is professor of English and Kenan Visiting Writer at Transylvania University and former Poet Laureate of Kentucky. Taylor has written numerous books, including Sue Mundy: A Novel of the Civil War, Girty, and Earth Bones.
Susan E. Lindsey is coauthor and editor of Speed Family Heritage Recipes, a historical cookbook of recipes from the Speed family, who built Farmington Plantation in Louisville. Lindsey has also published several essays and short stories.
Travis L. Martin is founding director of the Kentucky Center for Veterans Studies at Eastern Kentucky University. He has established several nationally recognized programs to support returning veterans in higher education and the nonprofit sector.
Bryan Paiement a professional bartender at the Dunraven restaurant in Estes Park, Colorado. He is the author of Sports Bar: Cocktails and Sports Trivia.
Randolph Paul Runyon is a retired professor of French and the author of twelve other books, including two on Kentucky history: The Mentelles: Mary Todd Lincoln, Henry Clay, and the Immigrant Family Who Educated Antebellum Kentucky and Delia Webster and the Underground Railroad.
Crystal Wilkinson, Kentucky’s Poet Laureate, is the award-winning author of Perfect Black, a collection of poems, and three works of fiction—The Birds of Opulence , Water Street and Blackberries, Blackberries. She is the recipient of a 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry, a 2021 O. Henry Prize, a 2020 USA Artists Fellowship, and a 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence.
Melissa Martin, Ph.D., is a licensed professional clinical counselor, child therapist/play therapist, educator, author. Her traditional published picture books: “Those Are Not My Underpants!” Penguin Random House (2021). “Tessie Tames Her Tongue.” Free Spirit Publishing (2017). She lives in Ohio.
Kaitlyn Hill is a writer, reader, and sweet tea enthusiast who believes that all the world is not, in fact, a stage, but a romance novel waiting to happen. Her debut novel Love from Scratch was released 4/5/22 from Delacorte Press/Penguin Random House.
Writer and podcaster Rachael Adams started her ministry to help women realize their God-given purpose and significance. She and her husband, Bryan, run a family business and farm in Kentucky with their two children, Will and Kate, and two doodle dogs.
Cancellations (updated October 24, 2022): George G. Humphreys; Batya Ungar-Sargon; Patricia L. Hudson; David Novak; Ashley Winstead; Jess Montgomery; Daniel Epstein, Jess Wright, Erin Kate Ryan, Mark Powell, Alan Maimon, Tom Clavin, Wilfred Reilly, and Catherine McKenzie.
