UKNOW University of Kentucky News

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 8, 2012) — Now in its 31st year, the Kentucky Book Fair will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat., Nov. 10th, at the Frankfort Convention Center.  

Founded in 1981, the Kentucky Book Fair is the state's leading literary event. Over the past 31 years, the fair has recognized outstanding Kentucky authors and editors. The largest and oldest event of its kind in the state, the Kentucky Book Fair will showcase around 200 authors with recently published books.

Sponsored by The State Journal, and co-sponsored by the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives and the University Press of Kentucky (UPK), the Kentucky Book Fair attracts thousands of avid readers and patrons from across the country. With many books ranging from regional cookbooks to wartime histories, the fair has a book for everyone with a passion for reading.

Several University of Kentucky faculty, staff and alumni will take part in the fair. The UK authors and their corresponding publications are:

·       "Call Me Mac: A Biography of Judge Mac Swinford," by William H. Fortune, Robert G. Lawson Professor of Law at UK College of Law;

·       "Hanoi's War: An international History of the War for Peace in Vietnam," by Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, associate professor of history;

·       "Ancient Creek: A Folktale," by Gurney Norman,  UK associate professor and director of the Creative Writing Program ;

·       "Erby's Turn to Rake," by alumnus Christopher Epling;

·       "The Girl in the Blue Beret," by Bobbie Ann Mason, 1963 alumnus and former faculty member; and

·       "Dive," by alumnus Devin Hylton.

UK authors published by UPK participating in the Kentucky Book Fair include:

·       "Contemporary Public Health: Principles, Practice, and Policy," edited by James W. Holsinger, UK Charles T. Wethington Jr. Chair in the Health Sciences;

·       "The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America's Premier Sporting Event," alumnus and part-time history instructor James C. Nicholson;

·       "Arab and Jewish Women in Kentucky: Stories of Audacity and Accommodation," Nora Rose Moosnick, visiting scholar in the UK Department of Sociology;

·       "Kentucky's Frontier Highway: Historical Landscapes along the Maysville Road," Karl Raitz, Provost's Distinguished Service Professor in the UK Department of Geography, and Nancy O'Malley, assistant director of UK William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology; and

·       "Shiloh and Other Stories," by alumnus Bobbie Ann Mason.

Other authors and editors with recent publications from UPK participating in the fair and their corresponding books are:

·       "Kentucky Horse Country: Images of the Bluegrass," by James Archambeault;

·       "The Shaker Village," by Raymond Bial;

·       "Spookiest Stories Ever: Four Seasons of Kentucky Ghosts," by Lonnie Brown and Roberta Simpson Brown;

·       "The Gulf: The Bush Presidencies and the Middle East," by Michael F. Cairo;

·       "George Keats of Kentucky: A Life," by Lawrence M. Crutcher;

·       "Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics," edited by Lilly J. Goren;

·       "Kentucky Folktales: Revealing Stories, Truths, and Outright Lies," by Mary Hamilton;

·       "My Father, Daniel Boone: The Draper Interviews with Daniel Boone," edited by Neal O. Hammon;

·       "Something’s Rising: Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal," by Silas House;

·        "A Few Honest Words: The Kentucky Roots of Popular Music," by Jason Howard;

·       "Blood in the Hills: A History of Violence in Appalachia," by Bruce Stewart, with contributor T.R.C. Hutton;

·       "Helen Matthews Lewis: Living Social Justice in Appalachia," edited by Helen Matthews Lewis and Judith Jennings;

·       "Bluegrass Renaissance: The History and Culture of Central Kentucky," edited by  James C. Klotter and Daniel Rowland, former history professor and director of the Gaines Center for the Humanities at UK;

·       "A Kentucky Christmas," edited by George Ella Lyon; and

·       "The Hills Remember: The Complete Short Stories of James Still," edited by Ted Olson.

Author T.R.C. Hutton will participate in “Feuding Kentucky: Page to Performance,” a panel discussion sponsored by the Kentucky Book Fair and the Kentucky Historical Society. The program will take place at noon Sat., Nov. 10, in the House Chamber of Old State Capital, across the street from the convention center. UPK editor James C. Klotter will moderate the discussion which features Hutton; Altina Waller, author of "Feud"; James D. Reeder, playwright of "Bloody Rowan!";  and Jerry Deaton, filmmaker of "The Feuds of Bloody Breathitt".

Hutton has a new book that will be available next year titled "Bloody Breathitt: Politics and Violence in the Appalachian South," and he contributed a chapter, “Assassins and Anarchists’ and Feudists: Death and Politics in the Bluegrass and the Mountains” to the book "Blood in the Hills" by Bruce Stewart.

There is limited seating available for the panel discussion. Admission is free and open to the public. 

UPK is the scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, representing a consortium that now includes all of the state universities, five private colleges, and two historical societies. Led by Director Stephen Wrinn, its editorial program focuses on the humanities and the social sciences. Offices for the administrative, editorial, production and marketing departments of the press are found at UK, which provides financial support toward the operating expenses of the publishing operation.

For more information on the book fair and the featured authors, visit the fair's website, www.kybookfair.blogspot.com. 

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, (859) 257-8716 or whitney.hale@uky.edu