Heartland Book Festival

JAMES DUANE BOLIN

Biography

James Duane Bolin is professor emeritus of history at Murray State University. He is the author of Home and Away: A Professor’s Journal; Bossism and Reform in a Southern City: Lexington, Kentucky, 1880 – 1940; and Kentucky Baptists, 1925-2000: A Story of Cooperation.

Adolph Rupp and the Rise of Kentucky Basketball

SAKINAH BUNCH

Biography

Sakinah is an Army veteran and specializes in marital and physical wellness coaching. She empowers individuals to establish healthy relationships with food, others, and self. After a rocky start to marriage, then caring for family with severe health issues, she discovered the rules to avoid a tumultuous divorce and the loss of a child.

Wife to Be: A Survivor's Guide For the New & Not-So Newlywed

BRYAN S. BUSH

Biography

Bryan was born, raised, and has lived in Louisville, KY his whole life. With a passion for history, especially the Civil War, he has been a member of several Civil War historical preservation societies and roundtables. Bryan has also been a Civil War re-enactor and past curator for the Old Bardstown Civil War Museum and Village. Bryan currently serves as a board member for the Louisville Historical League and is the official Civil War tour guide for Cave Hill Cemetery.

The Men Who Built Louisville: The City of Progress in the Gilded Age

DOUG CANTRELL

Biography

Doug Cantrell has taught U.S. and Kentucky History at Elizabethtown Community & Technical College for the past 32 years. He has authored, co-authored, or edited 14 books and speaks throughout Kentucky and the Appalachian South on various topics related to Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and southwestern Virginia. Doug lives in Elizabethtown with his wife, Lisa, who is also a professor at ECTC.

The Making of an American: The Autobiography of a Hungarian Immigrant, Appalachian Entrepreneur, and OSS Officer

ALISON LEIGH COWAN

Biography

Alison Leigh Cowan was a reporter and editor for the New York Times for 27 years. She now lives in Stamford, Connecticut, where she teaches English as a second language. She is a longtime board member of the School for Ethics and Global Leadership in Washington, D.C. and a founding member of the board that mentors the Princeton University Press Club.

How to Survive Your Freshman Year

JOHN GILDERBLOOM

Biography

John I. “Hans” Gilderbloom is a professor in the Graduate Planning, Public Administration, Public Health, and Urban Affairs programs at the University of Louisville. He is the author of five books, including “Invisible City: Poverty, Housing, and New Urbanism and Community versus Commodity: Tenants and the American City.”

Chromatic Homes: The Joy of Color in Historic Places

Other Books

• Invisible City

JOHN C. GOODLETT

Biography

John C. Goodlett (1922-1967) was a professor of plant geography at John Hopkins University and a researcher for the U.S. Geeological Survey. At an early age, he wandered the woods near his home in central Kentucky and discovered a fascination with the flora and fauna that surrounded him.

The Last Resort: Journal of a Salt River Camp 1942-43

JENNIFER S. KELLY

Biography

Jennifer S. Kelly is a lifelong horse racing fan using her experience as a writing instructor and technical writer to chronicle and preserve the history of her favorite sport, especially the Triple Crown. Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown is her first book.

Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown

THOMAS KIFFMEYER

Biography

Thomas J. Kiffmeyer, associate professor of history at Morehead State University, is the author of numerous reviews and articles.

Reformers to Radicals: The Appalachian Volunteers and the War on Poverty

JAMES C. KLOTTER

Biography

James C. Klotter is the author, coauthor, or editor of some twenty books. He is the past executive director of the Kentucky Historical Society, and is professor emeritus of Georgetown College and the State Historian of Kentucky. His works include “Henry Clay: The Man Who Would be President”, and “A Concise History of Kentucky.”

A New History of Kentucky, Second Edition

KATHLEEN KUSH

Biography

Kush’s book, “Abused, Overused, and Meaningless,” was co-authored with her sister-in-law, Chery Jimenez. Chery now has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and both have been used physically and mentally. Now in their 60’s, they reflect upon their lives and on the lives of others with PTSD, Depression, and Anxiety, etc.

Abused, Overused and Meaningless

ANDREW T. MCDONALD AND VERLAINE STONER MCDONALD

Biography

Andrew T. McDonald is a journalist who has traveled to Japan and written articles about KEEP for the Lexington Herald-Leader and Richmond Register. KEEP (Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project) is a vehicle for feeding, educating, and uplifting the rural poor of highland Japan.

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Verlaine McDonald is professor of communication at Berea College. She is also the author of “The Red Corner: The Rise and Fall of Communism in Northeastern Montana.”

Paul Rusch in Postwar Japan

NANCY O'MALLEY

Biography

Nancy O’Malley is a professional archaeologist specializing in early settlement and Revolutionary War Kentucky. She is well known for her extensive research on the frontier experience and pioneer residential sites. She is the author of “Stockading Up: A Study of Pioneer Stations in the Inner Bluegrass Region of Kentucky” and other publications.

Boonesborough Unearthed: Frontier Archaeology at a Revolutionary Fort

DEAN PARRISH

Biography

Dean Parrish grew up in Central Kentucky in rural Nelson County. Being raised in a Christian home, and growing up poor, he learned early in life the value of faith, family, and hard work. His deepest devotion is given to God, his wife, his seven children, and many grandchildren.

In Search Of Truth

DORIS SETTLES

Biography

Doris Settles grew up spending summers with her grandparents in Bardstown, inhaling sour mash while sitting on their front porch shelling peas. Her interests include communication and history; her book, “Prohibition in Bardstown” was co-authored with Dixie Hibbs, former mayor of Bardstown.

Prohibition in Bardstown: Bourbon, Bootlegging and Saloons

MILTON C. TOBY

Biography

Milton C. Toby is an award-winning author, journalist, and attorney with more than forty years of experience researching and writing about Thoroughbred racing and equine law. He is the author of eight books, including “Dancer’s Image: The Forgotten Story of the 1968 Kentucky Derby” and “Noor: A Champion Thoroughbred’s Journey from California to Kentucky.”

Taking Shergar: Thoroughbred Racing's Most Famous Cold Case

ROBERT D. WEBSTER

Biography

Robert D. Webster is a Northern Kentucky native and has written many articles on the region. Webster received a Kentucky History Award for his book “Beverly Hills Supper Club: The Untold Story of Kentucky’s Worst Tragedy.” He is also the author of such titles as “The Balcony Is Closed: A History of Northern Kentucky’s Long-forgotten Neighborhood Movie Theatres”, and “Northern Kentucky Fires: A Summary of the Most Memorable Fires of the Region.”

A Brief History of Northern Kentucky

JOHN VAN WILLIGEN

Biography

John van Willigen writes about Kentucky food ways and rural life. Most recently he published Kentucky’s Cookbook Heritage: Two Hundred Years of Southern Cuisine and Culture. This was named an honorable mention for the James Mooney Award of the Southern Anthropological Society. John is currently working on a book focused on everyday life on the Kentucky frontier. Now retired, he served as Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky until 2008.

Kentucky Cookbook Heritage