By Phillip Finch is a well-published Emporia writer – and apparently a fine photographer as well. During Wednesday night’s reception at the “Iconic Kansas ” exhibit at the Emporia Arts Center Gallery, he stands next to his photo of Burgess Marsh at the National Wildlife Refuge near Hartford. Finch’s latest book is Devil’s Keep. More on …
‘What Kansas Means to Me’
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: Barton County ‘WHAT KANSAS MEANS TO ME’ Tom Averill knows Kansas inside and out. He knows it and he loves it. Averill writes about our state, teaches Kansas literature, and tells stories on the radio about small town life. He’s a Kansan, one of us, …
Kevin reads
2010 Kansas Notable Book Award Winner Kevin Rabas reads from his new book of poetry, “Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano” Tuesday night at the Lawrence Public Library. I also read Tuesday evening, essays from “Flyover People: Life on the Ground in a Rectangular State.” The event was co-sponsored by the Lawrence Public Library and The Raven …
‘Moon Over Manifest’
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: ‘MOON OVER MANIFEST’ It’s always fun to stumble upon a novel set in Kansas, and recently I found a story that takes place in Crawford County. This book sends the reader back to the time of prohibition and bootlegging, the 1918 flu epidemic, and underground …
Janeology
Karen Harrington gets points for a great title. And a great novel. This is a book I’ve been reading over the past month in bits and pieces – because I had so much going on. It’s a story of a woman who is “done being a mother” and decides to drown her toddler twins. One …
Three authors
Elizabeth C. Bunce, Barbara Stuber and Laura Manivong signed books at Emporia’s Town Crier Bookstore on Thursday evening. These authors write for young adults and are all three from the Kansas City area. Elizabeth C. Bunce wrote “Star Crossed” and “A Curse Dark as Gold.” “My work is inspired by real cultures of the past, …
Bob Judd
Last week, I think it was, I was Googling things such as “Arkansas River” and “Great Bend” and came up with this wonderfully-written and charming story that Bob Judd wrote about his parents in Zyzzyva called “Cora and Clarence and Cars.” So, I sent an e-mail to this California writer and he sent me an …
Kansas Notable Book Awards
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: KANSAS NOTABLE BOOK AWARDS Writers sit alone at their desks and tap words into a computer. But that solitary life and hard work pays off for the author when he or she publishes a book. For the authors of 15 Kansas books, their efforts have …
Nancy Pickard
I had the pleasure of hearing Nancy Pickard speak at the Kansas Notable Books Awards ceremony yesterday in the old Kansas Supreme Court Room in the Kansas Capitol. She has a medallion around her neck because she was a winner of this same award in 2008 for her book “The Virgin of Small Plains,” which …
Notable Book Award Winner
Kevin Rabas with his Kansas Notable Book Award medal. Medallions were handed out to authors of 15 books this afternoon at the Kansas Capitol in Topeka. The Kansas Notable Book Awards are given by the State Library of Kansas and the Kansas Center for the Book. Congratulations to Kevin (who wrote a blurb for my …
Kansas Notable Books
The list came out on Wednesday: 2010 Kansas Notable Book List Announced State Librarian Joanne Budler and Roy Bird, Director of the Kansas Center for the Book at the State Library of Kansas, today announced the 2010 Kansas Notable Book List. Fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books are on the list which contains the best books …