Former Poet Laureate, award-winning novelist Crystal Wilkinson to deliver UK Libraries’ 2025 Prichard Lecture
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 17, 2025) — Crystal Wilkinson, acclaimed novelist, short story writer, essayist and poet, is the featured speaker for University of Kentucky Libraries’ 2025 Edward F. Prichard Lecture.
Wilkinson, who was Kentucky Poet Laureate for 2021-22, will read from her most recent book, “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts” and participate in a moderated conversation with journalist and cookbook author Ronni Lundy. Published in 2024, “Praisesong” is a lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians through powerful storytelling alongside nearly 40 comforting recipes.
The Prichard Lecture is 5 p.m. Friday, March 28, in the William T. Young Library Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public, and Wilkinson will sign books after the lecture. Seating is limited and RSVPs are appreciated.
Born in Hamilton, Ohio, and raised in Indian Creek, Kentucky, Wilkinson’s writing explores Black Appalachia and the rural South.
Her genre-spanning work also includes three novels, “Blackberries, Blackberries” (2000), “Water Street” (2002) and “The Birds of Opulence” (2016); and a book of poetry, “Perfect Black” (2021). Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including The Atlantic, The Kenyon Review, STORY, Agni Literary Journal, Emergence, Oxford American and Southern Cultures.
Wilkinson is recipient of an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry, an O. Henry Prize, an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, a USA Artists Fellowship and an Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence.
Wilkinson currently teaches at UK, where she is the Bush-Holbrook Endowed Professor and director of the Division of Creative Writing.
Ronni Lundy is a former restaurant reviewer and music critic for The Courier-Journal and former editor of Louisville Magazine. Lundy has long chronicled the people of the hillbilly diaspora as a journalist and cookbook author and has been recognized for her work with the Southern Foodways Alliance Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award. Her book “Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes” is an exploration of the foodways, people and places of Appalachia and winner of the James Beard Foundation Book of the Year Award.
Since its inception in 1977, the Edward F. Prichard Lecture Series has featured nationally acclaimed authors, journalists, historians and public figures. The Prichard Lecture is made possible by an endowment created by Edward F. Prichard Jr., a New Deal activist who later championed educational change in Kentucky.
As the premier research library in the Commonwealth, UK Libraries empowers lifelong learners to discover, create and connect by providing ever-expanding access to quality information and collaborating with academic and creative communities worldwide to advance knowledge, enhance scholarship and preserve the history and culture of the Commonwealth. More information about UK Libraries can be found at libraries.uky.edu.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.