Author Archives: Susan Broady

WKU Libraries is now offering StackMap, a software mapping program that provides patrons with a detailed map and written directions to an item with one click. Maps are printable, and also compatible with mobile browsers. Just search for your favorite titles in TOPCAT, scroll to the bottom of the page, and look for the button called “Map It!” The visual map will take you right to the floor and aisle you need to find your materials.

Bowling Green, Ky. –New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris will headline the 16^th annual Southern Kentucky Book Fest scheduled for Saturday, April 26, 2014. Born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area, Harris has been writing for thirty years and is best known for her Sookie Stackhouse series.

“We’ve invited Charlaine to Book Fest for several years, but scheduling conflicts have prevented her from coming. Happily, we contacted her early enough to get on her schedule for 2014,” said Kristie Lowry, Literary Outreach Coordinator for WKU Libraries and Book Fest organizer. “The Book Fest partnership strives to invite authors who will have broad appeal, and Charlaine’s fans include young adult and adult readers–men and women–and her appearance will also pull fans of the show True Blood to Book Fest. We are thrilled to have Charlaine Harris coming to Bowling Green next April.”

Harris began writing plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, switching to novels a few years later and published her first book, Sweet and Deadly, in 1981. After publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris launched the lighthearted Aurora Teagarden books with Real Murders, a Best Novel 1990 nomination for the Agatha Awards. Harris wrote eight books in her series about a Georgia librarian. In 1996, she released the first in the much darker Shakespeare mysteries, featuring the amateur sleuth Lily Bard, a karate student who makes her living cleaning houses. Shakespeare’s Counselor, the fifth—and last– was printed in fall 2001.

After Shakespeare, Harris created an urban fantasy series about a telepathic waitress named Sookie Stackhouse who works in a bar in the fictional Northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. Each book follows Sookie through her adventures involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. The series has been released worldwide and is so popular that writer and producer Alan Ball created the HBO series True Blood based on Harris’s novels. 

SOKY Book Fest is a partnership project of WKU Libraries, Warren County Public Library, and Barnes and Noble Booksellers. For more information, visit the website at sokybookfest.org or contact Book Fest organizer Kristie Lowry at WKU Libraries at (270) 745-4502.

WKU Library student workers will be missed!

A reception was held on May 8 at 10 am to honor the student workers for WKU Libraries who are graduating. Best wishes and good luck in your future endeavors!

Bowling Green, Ky. –The Southern Kentucky Book Fest partnership announces the five finalists for the 2013 Kentucky Literary Award. This year’s award will go to a work of non-fiction by a Kentucky author or with a significant Kentucky theme that was published in 2011 or 2012. The five finalists include:

A Few Honest Words: The Kentucky Roots of Popular Music by Jason Howard

Arab and Jewish Women in Kentucky: Stories of Accommodation and Audacity by Nora Rose Moosnick

Bluegrass Baseball: A Year in the Minor League Life by Katya Cengal

Confederate Outlaw: Champ Ferguson and the Civil War in Appalachia by Brian McKnight

The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America’s Premier Sporting Event by James Nicholson

The award winner will be announced at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest’s Meet the Authors reception to be held Friday, April 19–the night before the main Book Fest event. For more information about the program, contact Kristie Lowry, Book Fest and Literary Outreach Coordinator, at kristie.lowry@wku.edu or 745-4502.

The Southern Kentucky Book Fest is a partnership of Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Warren County Public Library, and Western Kentucky University Libraries. For more information, go to sokybookfest.org.

The Waltons Actress Mary McDonough leads
workshop on body image at Book Fest

Bowling Green, Ky. –Well-known actress, author, and life coach Mary McDonough will be presenting “Body Branding: Getting Comfortable with the Skin You’re In” on Saturday, April 20 at 8 am at the Knicely Conference Center. Widely known for her role as Erin on The Waltons, McDonough leads groups to help with personal change, create life balance, and return to a sense of self.

According to her website, the Body Branding workshop explores how we view ourselves, the best way to undo any negativity about ourselves, and how to change how we project ourselves to the world. Suitable ages for this workshop are tweens, teens, college age, and adults. The breakfast & workshop costs $15 per person. Tickets are available at the Warren County Public Library, (main and Kirby branches), Barnes & Noble, and WKU Libraries Dean’s Office.

McDonough will be joining more than 140 authors for adults, youth, and children at this year’s SOKY Book Fest, including well-known actor and author Henry Winkler, radio host Bob Edwards, and bestselling authors Sherrilyn Kenyon and Mary Alice Monroe. Bestselling children’s author Obert Skye will headline Children’s Day on Friday, April 19 and other children and youth authors attending include Amy Ingnatow with The Popularity Papers series and Jarrett Krosoczka who wrote the Lunch Lady series. Krosoczka will also be leading a writing workshop on that Saturday, April 20 for upper elementary to middle school grade children.

All Book Fest events, including the Kentucky Writers Conference, will take place at the Knicely Conference Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Children’s Day will be on Friday, April 19 from 9 am to 2 pm, and the Kentucky Writers Conference will also take place on Friday from 9 am to 3:30 pm. The main Book Fest event with all the authors will be from 9 am to 3 pm on Saturday, April 20. All events, with the exception of the McDonough workshop, are free and open to the public.

SOKY Book Fest is a partnership project of WKU Libraries, Warren County Public Library, and Barnes and Noble Booksellers. For more information, visit the website at sokybookfest.org or contact Book Fest organizer Kristie Lowry at WKU Libraries at (270) 745-4502 or Kristie.lowry@wku.edu.