By Whitney Hale

(Aug. 11, 2015) — Legendary 81-year-old poet Sonia Sanchez will return to the upcoming Kentucky Women Writers Conference on the 10th anniversary of the founding of the conference series named for her. The Sonia Sanchez Series, which brings a major thinker in multicultural and human rights issues to Lexington to speak throughout the community, will this year include a free public screening of "BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez: a new documentary," on the life and work of the celebrated writer, at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center.

For Sonia Sanchez, writing is both a personal and

By Whitney Harder

(July 17, 2015) — Summer: a time to catch up on neglected projects, reconnect with old friends and tackle that summer reading list. Whether it's an inspiring autobiography, the latest science fiction, or re-reading the classics, many are immersing themselves in a range of literature this season. For professors at the University of Kentucky, they are not only cracking open new books, but reflecting on those that have impacted their lives and careers in surprising ways. 

Read below for the first in a series of professors reflecting on the books that shaped them. 

John Anthony

J. C. Hubbard Professor of Chemistry

Quite a few books have resonated with me over the years. The earliest would be the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy by

By Gail Hairston

(June 1, 2015) — There is a surplus of summer camps available for local children, but the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences offers a summer day camp experience beyond the norm — camps focusing on linguistics, geography, creative writing and philosophy that not only keep kids occupied, but engaged, active and informed.

UK Department of Geography's summer MapCamp is a weeklong day camp for children in middle school that includes exercises in map making and outdoor geo-challenges. Attendees will participate in the ancient craft of cartography, build digital interactive maps to share with the world and conduct campus treasure hunts with GPS-enabled mobile devices.

MapCamp runs June 22−26 or July 6-10, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in UK's state-of-the-art GIS and Cartography Lab (Room 313) in the White Hall

By Whitney Hale

(May 6, 2015) — Join organizers of the Kentucky Women Writers Conference as they host a preview party featuring award-winning author Hannah Pittard, assistant professor at University of Kentucky Department of English. The event, including a reading from "Reunion," will begin 4 p.m. Saturday, May 9, at The Morris Book Shop, located at 882 East High Street in Lexington.

Pittard's second book, "Reunion," chronicles the weekend of a far-flung family reunited by their father's death. In addition to featuring Pittard's work, the preview party will

By Gail Hairston

(April 23, 2015) — As April gradually slides into May, trees are growing their cloaks of green, flowers are daubing the landscape with bright colors, and Lexington’s imagination turns poetic as the city and the University of Kentucky celebrate National Poetry Month.

“Why not a festival of poetry?”thought Julia Johnson, poet and associate professor and director of the new Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in the

By Gail Hairston, Whitney Harder

(April 22, 2015) — The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences will honor its faculty at 4 p.m. today at the William T. Young Library Auditorium.

The recipients of this year's college faculty awards are:

Charles Carlson, psychology, 2015-16 Distinguished Professor. For more information, visit http://uknow.uky.edu/content/carlson-honored-teaching-research-and-service

Beth Guiton, assistant professor of chemistry ‒ Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award

Guiton leads a materials chemistry group in the Center for Advanced Materials, investigates chemistry at the nanometer length scale, working at the intersection between solid

By Clark Bellar

(April 16, 2015) — On April 23, the Confucius Institute at the University of Kentucky and the Department of English will host a talk by Eugenia Zuroski Jenkins, titled "How Chinese Things Became Oriental." The presentation will begin at 3 p.m. Thursday, at the Alumni Gallery in the William T. Young Library.

Following the

By Katy Bennett

(April 14, 2015) — Join the University of Kentucky Student Activities Board's Multicultural Affairs Committee in enjoying poetry readings by the Affrilachian Poets at 6:30 p.m. Wednesay, April 15, in the auditorium of William T. Young Library.

Students, faculty and staff can enjoy exciting and culturally captivating poetry by a group of talented poets brought together by Danville native and UK faculty member, Frank X Walker, who has also served as Kentucky's poet laureate. Five of the poets will share their personal history of being a minority in the Appalachian area and how their identity has been shaped because of their ethnicity. Light refreshments will be served.

“This poetry gives a

By Jenny Wells

(March 30, 2015) — Pearl James, associate professor in the University of Kentucky Department of English, will deliver the first lecture of this semester's Chellgren Seminar Series. Her talk, "Hollywood's Great War," will take place at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 31 in the William T. Young Library Auditorium.

"As the recent success of 'American Sniper' reminds us, the war film genre has been a staple in Hollywood for a long time," James said. "This talk will use the current 100-year anniversary of World War I to discuss Hollywood portrayals of World War I. Hollywood brought