The Kentucky Book Book Festival
My second Book Festival of the year!
Here are my thoughts:
Book Festivals are Awesome! I need to do more. There’s something wonderful about the atmosphere when people gather together to celebrate the arts. Concerts, galas, theaters, conventions, and stages, each event and venue highlight the very human capacity to appreciate, enjoy, and imagine the world around us and the potential we still dream to achieve or fight to prevent. (I enjoy a good cautionary tale too.)
Often, when it comes to group events, it’s plays, concerts, and dance performances which get the highlight. They are obviously collaborative, and designed to be experienced together. But, just like we can listen to songs while working, or dance alone in the kitchen while making dinner, the more solitary forms of media can, realistically, also be collaborative. We want to talk about the T.V. shows we like, share our favorite movies with family and friends, and pass along a good book when we are able.
I didn’t choose to become an author to isolate myself behind a wall of words. I have characters I want you all to meet. I have stories I’ve collected or imagined, and worlds I want to share. And I don’t read books just to keep those other worlds to myself either. A love of literature is something we can and should share, and Book Festivals are a great opportunity for fellow book-lovers to gather together and find others with the same interests. For authors, this means we have an opportunity meet people who appreciate, or may soon appreciate, our stories, and to meet other participants in our frequently solitary craft.
So, recently, I found myself at the Kentucky Book Festival. For me it was painfully nostalgic. Joseph-Beth Booksellers, in Lexington Kentucky who hosted the event on November 1st, 2025 was one of my favorite places in Lexington when I was attending the University of Kentucky. I’d drive, (or even walk) to the massive bookstore to pick out new reads. (Often, Jack McDevitt’s newest Sci-Fi, or Terry Pratchett’s newest Discworld title.) The bookstore is massive, and contains, for me, wonderful memories.
It’s very different going back with books to sell. The ride down the escalator took me to a table I would share with Misako Rocks!, an author/illustrator who I was sharing a panel with later in the day. Just behind us was Shawn Pryor, an author who wrote the graphic novel about Stephen Bishop. It was one of the titles I’d read while working on The Specters of Mammoth Cave! (He writes a lot of other stuff too,) and it was awesome to meet him!
A bunch of other cool authors surrounded us: P. Anastasia, who writes a series of Edgar Allen Poe inspired mysteries, Dawn Cusick who wrote a series of fun animal fact books and a book about the chimpanzees who were part of NASA’s early space program. Jamie D’amato, who was also at the Louisville Book Festival, with her debut novel, a queer paranormal romcom about a new vampire in love. And these are just the people I was able to talk to! There were several other authors in the young adult and middle grade space who I did not get the chance to meet, and as people stopped by my table, I witnessed an entire bookshelf’s worth of titles that I would be interested in reading and the authors of which who I would have been thrilled to meet.
Misako’s an author/illustrator of these cool graphic novels, how-to-draw book, and also a Youtube creator with drawing tutorials. Jamie D’amato made me interested in a genera I normally don’t read (romance) with the promise of trope subversions. Similarly, Mariama J. Lockington sold me on her most recent work by promising a character who would happily fit into the Junior Rangers Investigator Novels: Juniper, who is 1/2 of the romantic couple in I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, and an avid athelete and outdoor enthusiast. I mention these three because I had the fortune of sharing a panel with them about Writing for Young Readers. Hopefully, that video will be released at some point in the future, and I can link to it.
Hopefully link to panel soon!
It’s super fun to learn about other works, and different author’s perspectives on writing.
It’s also super fun to meet kids, parents, families, and the vast assortment of people who choose to spend their Saturday’s at book festivals. I’m always thrilled when someone chooses to pickup and read my book. And I always hope they enjoy it. But I also enjoy the other people who just stopped by to browse, to check out the covers (Bailey’s Artwork does a lot of the hard work getting people to my table,) and to talk.
I met a woman whose brother lives in Miami and fishes in Biscayne. I met a family who had recently moved out of Miami and were excited to see a park they used to visit represented in a book. I met a man who has worked extensively with bats at Mammoth Cave. One boy stopped at every table nearby to ask the authors a question or two. Another girl really liked ‘Justin’s’ compass, which is part of the Junior Rangers Investigative Club’s Big Mystery, (and now always a part of my table dressings,) and there were so many more people I had the chance to meet, or who were enthusiastic about the other authors nearby. One woman, an author hoping to publish soon, asked great question at our panel, which I may hope to tackle in written form later. (How do you know when to stop editing? When your book is done?)
So, the frank and complete general summary of my recent experience is very simple: Book Festivals are fun, and I hope to attend many more.
There’s another summary in this. I now have a back catalogue of books to read, from genera’s I never normally pick up. (and some I would probably read anyway.) This is, of course, because I actually met the authors and am, therefore, even more invested in learning about their works. Concerts help us to share our interest in music. Plays put theatrics on display. Dance can be both something to watch and to join in on. Conventions allow people to meet the tallent that bring thier favorite movies and tv shows to life. Book Festivals and author’s events work to bring new attention to books some might miss, but more importantly, they remind us of a very rad fact: behind every book there are people who are trying to share their stories and characters with the world, and it’s really fun to meet them!
If you would like to meet me, stay tuned, because I’ll be trying to attend more book festivals in the future.
Also, I now have a stack of books to read. Maybe I’ll try and review a couple of them as well, simply because that seems like fun, and while I’m no longer sitting at a table inside my favorite bookshop in Lexington, I’d still like to highlight a few of the authors around me and get more eyes on their work too. (Reviews, maybe, incoming.)
Thanks to the staff of Joseph-Beth Booksellers, and the many organizers and volunteers of the Kentucky Book Festival! I hope to be seeing more of you in the future