By Whitney Hale 

(Nov. 13, 2015) — Now in its 34th year, the Kentucky Book Fair will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Frankfort Convention Center. This year’s fair will feature more than 200 authors and editors showcasing their most recent books including several writers from University Press of Kentucky (UPK).

Sponsored by The State-Journal, and co-sponsored by the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, UPK and the Kentucky Humanities Council, the Kentucky Book Fair attracts thousands of avid readers and patrons from across the country. With many books ranging from children's books and regional cookbooks to wartime histories and poetry collections, the fair has a book for everyone with a passion for reading. This year's fair is expected to attract an attendance of around 4,000 patrons.

Founded in 1981, the Kentucky Book Fair is the state's leading literary event. Since its inception, the fair has recognized outstanding Kentucky authors and editors. The largest and oldest event of its kind in the state, the Kentucky Book Fair has three key goals:

• to honor the profession of writing in the form of a one-day celebration;
• to provide a format for authors to meet their reading public; and
• to raise money through the sale of books and donate all profits to mostly school and public libraries throughout Kentucky.

The proceeds benefit libraries that have few resources to expand collections, replace old books or fund literacy-related causes. Those contributions to date total more than $375,000.

University of Kentucky authors published by UPK participating in the Kentucky Book Fair include:

• doctoral candidate and senior paralegal Terri Blom Crocker, "The Christmas Truce: Myth, Memory, and the First World War";
• Peter P. Bosomworth Professor of Health Services Research and Policy Dr. F. Douglas Scutchfield and Director of King Library Press Paul Evans Holbrook Jr., "The Letters of Thomas Merton and Victor and Carolyn Hammer: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam"; and
• UK's Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar in Residence and Theodore A. Hallam Professor Gerald L. Smith, Kentucky State University Professor Emeritus Karen Cotton McDaniels and Western Kentucky University Professor of History John A. Hardin, The Kentucky African-American Encyclopedia.

Other authors and editors with recent publications from UPK participating in the fair and their corresponding books are:

• James Archambeault, "Kentucky Horse Country: Images of the Bluegrass" and other books, as well as a new calendar;
• Roberta Simpson Brown and Lonnie E. Brown, "Haunted Holidays: Twelve Months of Kentucky Ghosts";
• Kathryn Canavan, "Lincoln’s Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America’s Greatest President";
• Robert Crane and Christopher Fryer, "Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father's Unsolved Murder";
• Kathleen Driskell, "Next Door to the Dead: Poems";
• Richard Holl, "Committed to Victory: The Kentucky Home Front During World War II";
• Tom Kimmerer, "Venerable Trees: History, Biology, and Conservation in the Bluegrass";
• William Lynwood Montell, "Tales from Kentucky Nurses";
• Carol Peachee, "The Birth of Bourbon: A Photographic Tour of Early Distilleries"; and
• Aimee Zaring, "Flavors from Home: Refugees in Kentucky Share Their Stories and Comfort Foods."

To see a full listing of authors and editors participating in the Kentucky Book Fair, visit www.kyhumanities.org/images/files/KBF_2015_ProgramFinal.pdf.

UPK is the scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, representing a consortium that now includes all of the state universities, five private colleges and two historical societies. The editorial program of the press focuses on the humanities and the social sciences. Offices for the administrative, editorial, production and marketing departments of the press are found at UK, which provides financial support toward the operating expenses of the publishing operation.

For more information on the book fair and the featured authors, visit the fair's website, www.kybookfair.blogspot.com.