Published: November 05, 2009 09:14 am      

11 local authors to be at state book fair Saturday

Eleven authors from Madison County will be taking part in the 28th annual Kentucky Book Fair on Saturday in Frankfort.

The free event will take place at the Frankfort Convention Center, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Richmond writers Sylvia Davis, Charles Bracelen Flood, Melba Porter Hay, Marie Mitchell, Mason Smith, Pat Banks and Linda Pack, along with Howard Carlberg, Jason Howard, Thomas Parrish and Jim Tomlinson from Berea, will be among 200 writers participating in the fair.

Several nationally known figures, including former U.S. Sen. George McGovern, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1972, will join a list of mostly Kentucky authors

McGovern is author of the Abraham Lincoln volume in The American Presidents Series.

Of the Richmond authors:

• Davis provides a collection of personal essays by Kentuckians who share their near-death experiences and angel encounters in “Appalachian Angels.”

• Flood offers a compelling account of Abraham Lincoln’s dramatic final year of life in “1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History.”

• Hay is the author of “Madeline McDowell Breckinridge and the Battle for a New South,” the first biography of the Lexington philanthropist, civil-rights leader and crusader for women’s suffrage.

•Smith and Mitchell, a husband-wife writing team in children’s fiction, return to the book fair with “48 Hours,” a story about two northern Kentucky teenagers racing against the clock to complete a short movie in 48 hours as part of a national film competition.

• Banks, an illustrator, and Pack, who teaches children’s literature at Eastern Kentucky University, combined their talents on “A is for Appalachia,” an introduction to the alphabet and Appalachian culture for children.

Of the Berea authors:

• Carlberg, along with Patricia L. Stephens, offer “Images of America: Berea,” a book full of historical photographs and stories about Berea.

• Howard is editor of “We All Live Downstream,” a multi-genre anthology of noted authors and young writers speaking out against mountaintop removal.

• Parrish’s book, “To Keep the British Isles Afloat,” explores the still misunderstood beginnings of the unique Anglo-American alliance in World War II.

• Tomlinson’s “Nothing Like An Ocean” focuses on a a fictional town through short stories on broken relationships, politics and the environment.

Other noteworthy Kentucky authors to be at the fair include George Ella Lyon, Tori Murden McClure, Silas House, James E. “Ted” Bassett, Bill Mooney, David Dick, Bobbie Ann Mason, Holly Goodard Jones, Liz Bevarly, Heather Henson, Ed McClanahan, William Lynwood Montell, Marcia Thornton Jones, Paul Prather and Erik Reece.

For more details, visit www.kybookfair.org.

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@ richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.