If you were not able to come to the 2024 Kansas Book Festival and if you would like to hear the talk by our keynoter, NYTimes Bestselling Crime Writer Sara Paretsky, then click here. She regales the audience with personal stories about her early life in Lawrence and the recent loss of her husband, describing how such factors influence what she writes in the popular series featuring detective V.I. Warshawski, including the recent novel Pay Dirt.
Humanities Kansas recently awarded $9,630 to the Kansas Book Festival to support the annual Topeka event that promotes literacy, encourages life-long readers, and supports libraries and inspiring writers. Tim Bascom serves as project director.
The Kansas Book Festival will take place on Saturday, September 24th, 2022, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. There will be over 50 outstanding authors giving presentations. Authors include Congresswoman Sharice Davids (Sharice’s Big Voice), New York Times Bestselling novelist KJ Dell’Antonia (In Her Boots), social commentator Randal Jelks (Letters to Martin), and many more. The festival also includes 30 exhibitors with books for sale, a children’s activity area, musical performers, and food trucks!
“Literature is at the heart of the humanities, and we are pleased to see a festival for aspiring Kansas poets and authors, as well as for those who love to read,” said Julie Mulvihill, Humanities Kansas Executive Director.
About Humanities Kansas
Humanities Kansas is an independent nonprofit spearheading a movement of ideas to empower the people of Kansas to strengthen their communities and our democracy. Since 1972, HK’s pioneering programming, grants, and partnerships have documented and shared stories to spark conversations and generate insights. Together with statewide partners and supporters, HK inspires all Kansans to draw on diverse histories, literatures, and cultures to enrich their lives and to serve the communities and state we all proudly call home.
Visit humanitieskansas.org
KJ Dell’Antonia was, for years, living in New England and editing Motherlode, a column for the NY Times, but when she decided to write a novel, she drew on her childhood experience in Kansas. The Chicken Sisters is about a stormy, often humorous relationship between siblings who find themselves championing competing fried-chicken restaurants in the little town of Merinac, Kansas, putting their whole family at risk of imploding. When that debut novel came out in 2020 it climbed into the bestseller ranks and was picked by Reese Witherspoon for her influential book club. Now, two years later, KJ is back with a second novel–In Her Boots–which clearly draws on personal experience too. The main character, Rhett, is a fiction writer who has written a bestseller under a pseudonym. Panicked by a broken romance and a tragedy back home at the family farm, Rhett convinces a friend to pose as the author of her new bestseller, only to find that her mother is more impressed with the fake author than herself. How can Rhett prove herself to the distressed mother as she decides to sell the beloved farm? Come hear KJ September 24th, 2022, at the Kansas Book Festival, when she talks about the search for happiness and learning to live authentically in one’s own boots.
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).
After hitting the pause button for Covid-19, we’re planning to return to action this coming September, 2021! Be sure to join us for the 10th Anniversary of the Kansas Book Festival–with programming for young children through adults.
If you’ve never been to the festival, this will be a great year to start. While we’re not announcing authors yet…I can tell you that there are some GREAT ones coming! There will be memoir writers and novelists and poets and biographers. We’ll have book sales, book signings and musical acts to entertain, as well. We’ll have food vendors on site so you can enjoy the festival without having to leave. Who knows? Curious George and Clifford might even make surprise appearances during the children’s story time.
Look for our full schedule as we get closer to the actual time. Be sure to check back so you’ll have all of the latest information. If you haven’t already “liked” us on Facebook, please do that too! www.facebook.com/KansasBookFestival