Event date:
Library Author Series hosts two award-winning Kentucky authors, in conversation
Tuesday, May 10, 7 p.m. at the Main Library
301 York St, Louisville, KY 40203
Register HERE
The long journey of an American song, from its enormous success in the early 1850s, written by a white man, considered the father of American music, about a Black man being sold downriver, performed for decades by white men in blackface, and the song, an anthem of longing and pain, turned upside down and, over time, becoming a celebration of happy plantation life.
LOUISVILLE (April 8, 2022) — The Louisville Free Public Library’s Craig Buthod Author Series welcomes to the stage Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson (Perfect Black) and historian Emily Bingham (My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song) in conversation at the Main Library (301 York Street) on Tuesday, May 10, at 7 p.m. These two award-winning Kentucky authors will discuss their latest works, which offer fresh new perspectives on the Bluegrass state, both past and present.
The event is free, but registration is requested: LFPL.org/Registration or call (502) 574-1644. Books will be available for purchase, courtesy of Carmichael’s Bookstore.
About the Authors
Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson is the award-winning author of Perfect Black, a memoir in verse, which explores rural black girlhood, religion, sexual abuse, and growing up in Southern Appalachia. An Associate Professor of English in the MFA in Creative Writing Program at the University of Kentucky, Wilkinson is the recipient of a 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry, a 2021 O. Henry Prize, a 2020 USA Artists Fellowship, and a 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.
Writer and historian Emily Bingham was born into a journalism family. A Louisville native, her writings and reviews have appeared in Vogue, Ohio Valley History, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal. Bingham’s latest book, My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song, examines the history of Stephen Foster’s iconic song. From its enormous success in the 1850s through its twenty-first-century reassessment, Bingham explores the song’s history and permutations, bridging a nation’s fraught disconnect between history and warped illusion, revealing the country’s ever evolving self.
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The long journey of an American song, passed down from generation to generation, bridging a nation’s fraught disconnect between history and warped illusion, revealing the country's ever evolving self.
Crystal Wilkinson combines a deep love for her rural roots with a passion for language and storytelling in this compelling collection of poetry and prose about girlhood, racism, and political awakening, imbued with vivid imagery of growing up in Southern Appalachia.
