By Robby Hardesty M
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 17, 2025) — Crystal Wilkinson, the Bush-Holbrook Endowed Professor and director of the Division of Creative Writing in the University of Kentucky's College of Arts and Sciences, will present UK 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” explores the legacy of Black Appalachians through 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 explores Black Appalachia and the rural South. Her work 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 journals and anthologies including The Atlantic, The Kenyon Review, STORY, Agni Literary Journal, Emergence, Oxford American and Southern Cultures.
Wilkinson has received 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.
Lundy is a former restaurant reviewer and music critic for the Courier-Journal and former editor of Louisville Magazine. Lundy has 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” explores the people and places of Appalachia; it won the James Beard Foundation Book of the Year Award.
Since 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.