Kansas Notable Books Announced by State Library of Kansas

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Every year the Kansas Book Festival helps the State Library of Kansas to honor their selected Kansas Notable Books. We are delighted to announce the newly selected 2021 prize winners. Come to the 2021 Festival–on Saturday, September 18–to see the award ceremony and to hear from actual winners! In the meantime, you can click on the following link to learn more about each of these remarkable books: https://kslib.info/1465/2021-Notable-Books

Kansas Book Festival Helps Area Libraries Improve Services

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TOPEKA, March 22, 2021–Every March, the Kansas Book Festival grants $10,000 to Kansas libraries seeking to improve their book holdings or technology.  This year’s grants, just released, will assist 11 public or school libraries across the state, from Midland Trail Elementary Library near the heart of downtown Kansas City all the way to the Greeley County Library in far western Kansas (see photo of staff above).   

The needs vary.  In Peabody, 45 miles north of Wichita, a $750 grant will go toward books that help children from impoverished or dysfunctional homes to deal with related trauma.   Rodger Charles, the Director of the Peabody Township Library, is collaborating with local school counselors and teachers so that they have timely access to resources that can help children who are at risk.

By contrast, Michelle Davis, the Librarian at Oak Grove Elementary Library in Kansas City, deals with a student population that is 29% bilingual, but she says, “Currently, our library has 19 bilingual books out of a total of 13,399 books, meaning 0.14% of our books are bilingual.”  To improve the situation, Davis will use the $750 grant from Kansas Book Festival to purchase books that combine English with languages such as Burmese, Serbian, and Spanish.  She is enthused to help struggling minority students grasp concepts and language skills more quickly. 

Some of the annual Festival grants go to technology instead of books.  As Darci Hildebrand, Director of the Wamego Public Library, explains, “The effects of the pandemic have pushed many into isolation in a way that once seemed unfathomable.  It has become evident that technology is no longer just a luxury but a necessity.”  Because of this growing need, Hildebrand plans to use the $800 grant from the Kansas Book Festival for purchasing stands, microphones, lighting equipment, and a portable Green Screen that can be used with a tablet or iPad to Zoom and livestream events for library patrons at home. 

The Kansas Book Festival grant program, which was begun by former First Lady Mary Brownback when she brought the Festival to Topeka, has been maintained for a decade.  To date, $95,000 have been given to Kansas libraries, which will be celebrated at the 10th Anniversary of the Festival on September 18, when it takes place on the grounds of Washburn University in Topeka. 

The full alphabetical list of 2021 library grantees is as follows: Elemendaro Township Library ($1000), Greeley County Library ($1200), Kiowa County Library ($750), La Crosse Middle and High School Library ($600), La Cygne Public Library ($1800), Midland Trail Elementary Library ($750), Oak Grove Elementary Library ($750), Peabody Township Library ($750), S.E. of Saline Elementary and Secondary Libraries ($950), Wamego Public Library ($800), and Wilson Schools Library ($650). 

Author of Popular YA Fantasy Series Commits to Kansas Book Festival

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We are enthused that Natalie Parker, author of the acclaimed Seafire fantasy series, has committed to come to the 2021 Kansas Book Festival with her brand-new novel about adventuring women seafarers, Stormbreak. Here is some of the praise the book has garnered from reviewers:

“One of the year’s most anticipated new fantasies.” —Entertainment Weekly

“One of the most spell-binding adventures of the year.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“The pace of the book is fast and relentless, and the action sequences tense and believable, but the best moments are the ones in which the female relationships shine.” —NPR

Acclaimed Essayist Agrees to Present at 2021 Kansas Book Festival

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To our delight, Aimee Nezhukumatathil has agreed to come as a featured author for our 10th Anniversary celebration of the Kansas Book Festival on September 18, 2021 at the Washburn University campus. Aimee’s new collection of nature essays, World of Wonders, has been selected by Barnes and Noble and National Public Radio as a Book of the Year. Scott Russell Sanders, author of A Private History of Awe, has this to say of World of Wonders: “These are the praise songs of a poet working brilliantly in prose. Each essay compresses a great deal of art and truth into a small space, whether about fireflies or flamingos, monkeys or monsoons, childhood or motherhood, or the trials and triumphs of living with a brown skin in a dominant white world.” A reviewer for the New York Times adds this: “We are losing the language and the ability to see and understand the wondrous things around us. And our lives are impoverished . . . This book demands we find the eyes to see and the heart to love such things once more. It is a very fine book indeed.”

New Director Hired for 2021 Kansas Book Festival

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Planning has begun for the 2021 Kansas Book Festival, and a new Executive Director has been hired.  Tim Bascom comes to the Festival from Waldorf University in northern Iowa, where he was Director of their Creative Writing Program.  Bascom is a native Kansan, who spent growing-up years in Troy, Kansas and completed his Master of Arts degree in English Literature at the University of Kansas.  Later he taught writing and literature at Kansas State University then completed a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa, which led to directing the creative writing program at Waldorf University. 

Bascom has led workshops for writers every summer for 15 years at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and he is the author of five books.  His most recent—Climbing Lessons: Stories of Fathers, Sons, and the Bond Between (Light Messages Press, 2020)—is set in Kansas, depicting the stages of a father-son relationship through brief autobiographical tales.  Bascom says, “I’m glad to be back in Kansas, helping to connect readers with authors.  It’s especially meaningful to be given this opportunity on the 10th anniversary of the Festival, which we hope will usher in another decade of fun, meaningful Festivals!” 

A big thanks, finally, to our former director—Sarah Shipman—who needed to transition out of the position due to a new job.  She capably steered the 2019 Festival and the 2020 Festival, which unfortunately had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 virus and restrictions on public events.  She will be missed, although she has promised to come back as a volunteer with the 2021 Festival!

Learn about a gunfighter and a former slave at the 9th Kansas Book Festival

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Want to learn about the gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok or about a former slave who became a Kansas farmer? Join us at the 9th Annual Kansas Book Festival. Be sure to also check out the entertainment stage with folk musician Susan Picking and the Kansas Ballet Academy performing scenes from Wizard of Oz. For that matter, you might want to see the Kansas First Lady presenting the annual Kansas Notable Books awards, or hear from author panels about writing plays, working with an editor, and more.