Community Arts Award/Organization

The Kentucky Book Fair is the state’s premier literary event and one of the largest and oldest of its kind in the nation. It is sponsored by The State Journal, Frankfort’s daily newspaper, and co-sponsored by the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, University Press of Kentucky and Joseph Beth Book Sellers. Carl West, editor of The State Journal and other visionaries founded the organization that celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2006 as a non-profit, annual book fair for readers of all ages to benefit the literary community of Kentucky.

The success of the Book Fair can be attributed to remaining true to the organization’s three founding goals: 1) honoring the writing profession in the form of a one-day celebration, 2) providing a forum for accomplished authors from Kentucky and the nation to meet their reading public, and 3) raising money through the sale of books to give grants to school and public libraries throughout Kentucky.

It started out small, with some critics saying it was a foolish idea to try in Kentucky. The first gathering brought together 40 to 50 authors at the state library in Frankfort and steadily grew in size and appreciation. The late Dr. Thomas D. Clark once wrote in a letter to Carl West, “This event adds immeasurably to the cultural and intellectual status of Kentucky. You deserve an enormous amount of praise from both authors and readers.” Growth over the next 12 years forced a move to a new location in 1994.

With expanded floor space at the Exxum Building on the campus of Kentucky State University, the number of authors seemed to jump by leaps and bounds with a hundred authors and then a hundred-fifty, selling forty to fifty-thousand, then a hundred-thousand dollars worth of books. Columnist and author Coleman McCarty wrote in the Washington Post in 1994, “The idea of state book fairs is catching on. New York began one eight years ago. It is having trouble though: Only 2,000 people came last year, well short of the Frankfort turnout. New York’s literati should come down this way to learn how Kentucky does it.”

In 2002, the event moved to the Frankfort Convention Center and continues to grow. Each year more than 170 authors attend the Book Fair to autograph copies of their latest book, generally published within the 12 months preceding the November Book Fair date. Between 3,000 and 4,000 patrons attend and gross sales annually top $150,000.

“Kentucky has always had a number of writers of national standing,” says Kentucky columnist Byron Crawford, “but what the Kentucky Book Fair is doing with increasing effectiveness is provide average Kentuckians a venue for greater access to such writers’ work, and an annual opportunity to visit with the writers.”

The Kentucky Book Fair has been a force for literacy over the past 25 years. A very important outcome has been the grants awarded annually to school and public libraries that often have few resources to expand collections, replace old books, or fund literacy-related causes. During its history the Kentucky Book Fair has awarded more than $250,000 in grants as a way to expand its mission of sharing the joys and riches of reading to all parts of Kentucky.

Previous recipients: Elmer Lucille Allen, Wayne Smith, Mary Yeiser, Bowling Green-Warren County Arts Commission, G. Caliman Coxe, Emily Wolfson, Ft. Knox Alumni Performing Arts Center, Donna Bradley-Morton, Rowan County Arts Council, Elizabeth Paxton, Fohs Hall Community Arts Foundation, Dorothy Brockman, John Edmonds, Tom Sternal, Appalshop, Jenny Wiley Theatre, Ashland Area Art Gallery, Princeton Art Guild, Cumberland County Arts Council, The Living Arts & Science Center, Roots & Heritage Festival, Billie Jean Osborne, Kenneth H. Clay, Paramount Arts Center, Saundra Kilijian, Master Musicians Festival, Covington Community Center, Jarrett Boyd, Louisville Central Community Centers, Montgomery County Council for the Arts, Nana Yaa Asantewaa, the Singletary Center for the Arts and The Baker Hunt Foundation.