Affrilachian Poet Crystal Wilkinson is the 2002 recipient of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature. Crystal's novel Water Street was a long-list finalist for the prestigious Orange Prize and short-listed for a Zora Neal Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Legacy Award in fiction. She has presented workshops and readings throughout the country including the Sixth International Conference on the Short Story in English at the University of Iowa and the African American Women Writers Conference at the University of the District of Columbia. She is the author of two books, Blackberries, Blackberries(July 2000), and Water Street (September 2002), both published by Toby Press. Her work has been featured in many magazines and anthologies, including Home and Beyond: A Half-Century of Short Stories by Kentucky Writers and Torch, edited by Amanda Johnston.

Cave Canem Fellow and Affrilachian Poet Amanda Johnston has received honors such as the 2003 and 2004 Kentucky Foundation for Women Artist Enrichment grant and the 2005 Austin International Poetry Festival's Christina Sergeyevna Award. Johnston has served on the board of directors for the National Women's Alliance and the African-American Arts Technical Resource Center of Austin. She is a member of The Austin Project and is the founding editor of Torch. The author of Not Another Love Jones, a chapbook of poems, her work has appeared in Kudzu, Tempu Tupu: Africana Women's Poetic Self, Sorin Oak Review, Pluck! the Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, and many others. A former resident of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Johnston currently resides in Austin, Texas. 

Our musical guest Andrea Davidson is a Louisville-based acoustic singer/songwriter performing songs from her soulful and folky first album, Pick Your Poison. 

More information on the Affrilachian Poets: http://www.affrilachianpoets.com/history.htm

More information on Cave Canem: http://www.cavecanempoets.org

More information on The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South: http://www.cavecanempoets.org/pages/store/Anthologies.htm

On Saturday, February 2, 2008 the Senior High Youth Group and Mission and Outreach Ministry of First Unitarian Church, along with local musician Cari Norris present the “I Love the Mountains Benefit Concert.”

The concert will raise funds to increase awareness around the issue of mountaintop removal in Eastern Kentucky.  All proceeds will be donated to Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC), a social justice and environmental lobbying group.

The program will feature:

• Renowned Kentucky author Wendell Berry;
• The Reel World String Band, traditional and old-time music with a touch of country, swing, blues, and jazz;
• Rich Kirby and the Po Folks, old-time string band from Whitesburg, KY;
• Randy Wilson, storyteller and musician from Leslie County, KY;
• Cari Norris, local artist whose music stems from the traditions of her grandmother, the late Lily May Ledford; and
• Nora Ben & Eli, local teen trio who play an eclectic mix of jazz, Celtic, Appalachian, old-time, and original tunes. (Editor's Note: This trio is great)
  

One day soon I'm going to write a review of all the coffee shops I love in Louisville. I'll tell you my favorite ones for getting work done, best one for people watching, best place for a vanilla cappuccino, best house blend, best place to read a novel, etc. Quills Coffee will be the winner in at least one of those categories if not more. Though I already thought Quills was very cool it's excellence factor has now been increased because on August 2 it will be home to the spoken word and music event "Words of Summer." Words of Summer is going to be a fantastic event that is a joint production with The Louisville Writers Workshop Project and all proceeds from the suggested $5 cover are going to The Coalition for the Homeless.

Words of Summer

Thursday August 2
7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Quills Coffee & Books
1220 East Kentucky
(On Kentucky St. near Barret Ave. & Lynn's Paradise Cafe)

-featuring -

Bobbi Buchanan, Essay
Maryam Hand, Poetry
Michael Jackman, Fiction
Cameron Lawrence, Essay
Nancy Moïse, Poetry

Musical Guest: Heidi Howe

Donation: $5 at door
100% of proceeds benefit
The Coalition for the Homeless

_{I've put this in both the Highlands and Germantown categories. Quills sits between both I think so I'm not going to draw an arbitrary line in the proverbial sand.}