Kentucky Authors with Tom Eblen

Tom Eblen, literary liaison for the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning
About the series
In partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning and UnderMain, we offer a series of conversations with Kentucky writers about their latest works. Series host Tom Eblen is a journalist, writer, photographer and literary liaison at the Carnegie Center. Tom was metro/state columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader from 2008 to 2019 and the newspaper’s managing editor from 1998-2008. He returned to his hometown in 1998 after 14 years with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and five years with The Associated Press. He has won many awards, including the 2013 media award in the Kentucky Governor’s Awards in the Arts. He was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 2016. He was a contributing author for the book Bluegrass Renaissance: The History and Culture of Central Kentucky, 1792-1852 (University Press of Kentucky 2012).
Author Interviews
September 21, 2023 - Pulitzer prize-winning author Barbara Kingsolver discusses the research and process that went into the development of the endearing characters of her Appalachian novel "Demon Copperhead." LISTEN
June 22, 2023 - "The Fear of Too Much Justice: Race, Poverty, and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Courts." Author, Kentucky human rights attorney Stephen Bright, is Tom's guest. LISTEN
June 1, 2023 - Lexington author Janet Holloway's latest memoir recalls her West Virginia upbringing under the care and influence of a strong, moonshining grandmother. Holloway sits down with Tom to detail the hard-scrabble childhood that yields "Ain't Nobody's Business if I Do." LISTEN
May 11, 2023 - A conversation with Lexington author Hannah Pittard about her new book, "We Are Too Many, Kind Of", a candid account of the aftermath of her own divorce following the discovery that her husband was having an affair with her best friend. Pittard uses the experience to explore her childhood, bad decisions, eating disorders, and other areas of self-reflection that often accompany a failed marriage. LISTEN
May 4, 2023 - Tom's guest is Jonathan Greene, author of more than 20 chapbooks and volumes of poetry. LISTEN
March 2, 2023 - From the website of Tom Eblen’s guest: “A bicultural child of a Malay mother and an Indian father, Amelia Zachry was different from the get-go, never quite fitting in. In this raw, inspiring memoir, she chronicles the long, winding journey that brought her from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Kentucky, USA—the place she and her family now call home.” LISTEN
January 5, 2023 - Former Kentucky Poet Laureate, Richard Taylor, author of numerous collections of poetry, two novels, and several books relating to Kentucky history, on becoming an inductee into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame. LISTEN
DECEMBER 15 - Hominy or Grits? Author Georgia Green Stamper takes on the question in conversation with Tom Eblen about her new book of essays, "Small Acreages." LISTEN
December 1, 2022 - Former Kentucky Poet Laureate Jeff Worley discusses his new book and why he found himself writing an overheard comment on a banana peel. LISTEN
October 20, 2022 - Tom Eblen and novelist Geraldine Brooks in conversation about "Horse", Brooks' book about the famed racehorse "Lexington" and the pervasive racism within the racing industry of the 19th century. LISTEN
September 1, 2022 - An interview with award-winning, writer, teacher and editor Ellen Birkett Morris, author of "Lost Girls," Morris' collection of short stories. LISTEN
May 5, 2022 - Louisville historian Emily Bingham discusses her book "My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song" - the Kentucky State Anthem. Bingham reveals, and a rendition by the baritone Paul Robeson confirms, that the song is "first and always a song about slavery." LISTEN
July 2, 2020: Tom discusses The Year of Peril: America in 1942 with author and UK historian Tracy Campbell - LISTEN
August 13, 2020 - Tom discusses the value and importance of solitude with Fenton Johnson, author of At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life - LISTEN
September 10, 2020: Tom discusses her new book, Dear Ann, with celebrated Kentucky author Bobbie Ann Mason - LISTEN
October 8, 2020 - Kentucky poet Lynnell Edwards joins Tom to talk about her new collection of poems published under the title, This Great Green Valley - LISTEN
October 29, 2020 - Josh Douglas joins Tom to discuss the UK law professor's new book, Vote for Us: How to Take Back Our Elections and Change the Future of Voting - LISTEN
November 12, 2020 - Tom talks with Beverly Bell about her fact-based novel, The Murder of Marion Miley. - LISTEN
December 3, 2020 - Ashley Runyon, Director of the University Press of Kentucky discusses the challenges of publishing in an ever-shifting media landscape. - LISTEN
December 10, 2020 - With Cassie Chamber Armstrong. The film adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy has renewed spirited conversations about the JD Vance memoir. Tom Eblen discusses it with Cassie Chambers Armstrong, author of an Atlantic essay about the film, as well as a new book, Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains. - LISTEN
January 26-27, 2021 - Nikky Finney - The celebrated Kentucky author discusses her induction into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame - LISTEN
January 28, 2021 - Frank X Walker - On synthesizing the major events of 2020 as works of poetry - LISTEN
February 18, 2021 - Leesa Cross-Smith discusses her latest novel, This Close to Okay - LISTEN
April 8, 2021 - More than a cookbook: Ouita Michel's literary debut, Just a Few Miles South - LISTEN
April 29, 2021 - With Kentucky's outgoing and incoming Poet Laureates Jeff Worley and Crystal Wilkinson - LISTEN
September 2, 2021 - Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson discusses her book "Perfect Black" - LISTEN
September 30, 2021 - Pulitzer Prize finalist Margaret Verble of Lexington on her latest, When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky - LISTEN
October 14, 2021 - Jayne Moore Waldrop on her debut novel, Drowned Towns - LISTEN
November 11, 2021 - Ada Limon on hosting the public media poetry podcast that calls on us to do as the title suggests, The Slowdown - LISTEN
December 9, 2021 - Archeologist Chris Begley on his book, The Next Apocalypse, The Art and Science of Survival - LISTEN
December 23, 2022 - Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson offers a reading from her contribution to the anthology "A Kentucky Christmas." LISTEN
December 23, 2022 - How did standing beneath a sprig of Christmas mistletoe become an invitation to a kiss? Richard Taylor, former Kentucky Poet Laureate and Kenan Visiting Writer at Transylvania University, discusses the tradition and his father's annual harvesting of the parasitic treetop plant in the anthology "A Kentucky Christmas." LISTEN
January 13, 2022 - In The Assault on Elisha Green: Race and Religion in a Kentucky Community, historian Randolph Paul Runyon recounts one man's pursuit of justice over violence and racism in the nineteenth century. LISTEN
February 10, 2022 - A conversation with Kentucky writer Marianne Worthington about "The Girl Singer," her book of poetry honoring the women of classic country and folk music. LISTEN | VIDEO
March 3, 2022 - Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson discusses her new book of poetry "Perfect Black" LISTEN
March 17, 2022 - George Ella Lyon on the occasion of the poet's induction in the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame - LISTEN
May 5, 2022 - You may have sung the first verse of Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home,” but are you aware of the story of slavery told in the remaining verses? Historian Emily Bingham has published a book about it. Tom Eblen gets details and we listen to a version performed by baritone Paul Robeson. LISTEN
July 7, 2022 - The ravages of addiction play a central role in Wrecked, the latest young adult novel by Heather Henson. Tom Eblen gets details of the new book. LISTEN
July 21, 2022 - A chat with Lexington’s Ada Limón on her appointment as U.S. Poet Laureate. LISTEN
August 4, 2022 - Bobi Conn discusses her debut novel, "A Woman in Time". LISTEN