Morehead is going to be rocking August 29–30 with the inaugural Appalachian Literary Arts Festival. Morehead has been a hub of literary work with Morehead State University being the home of regional greats like Crystal Wilkinson and George Eklund. With an idyllic location between Lexington and the Appalachia writing center at the Hindman Settlement School and a booming arts community, Morehead is the perfect spot to celebrate Appalachian writers and culture.
“Morehead has it going-on!” exclaims JBHF founder and managing director, Larry Pemble. “We are proud to be sponsoring the festival as part of our larger grant program in Rowan county with Amy Lee Ann Richardson. Our support allowed Amy to start the Bloodroot Writers Collective last year, and, with Coffee Tree Books, we welcomed Kathleen Driskell for her first-ever visit to Rowan County this past Spring. We will make Morehead a regular stop for our KYOTR authors series in the future which showcases award-winning new work by Kentucky writers. We will be there at the festival all three days talking to interested parties and Willie Davis, our current JBH book award winner, will also be featured and reading from Honeysuckle Season.”
Newsletter Articles 2025-2026
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Stephen Vest Board Member
As with any business, leadership is key to the success of any nonprofit organization. Board members bring experience and guidance on finance, strategic planning and program development to a nonprofit structure such as the James Baker Hall Foundation. While the foundation has a small board, nonetheless, they are leaders in their fields and bring wisdom as the foundation grows.
Stephen Vest joined the Foundation board in 2024 as the first board member. A native of Louisville and currently residing in Frankfort, Steve is the editor and publisher of Kentucky Monthly magazine. Prior to founding Kentucky Monthly in 1998, he worked for more than a dozen years as a columnist and sportswriter for papers in Kentucky, Indiana and the Carolinas.“I had known Jeanine (Jeanine Triplett, Foundation Executive Vice President) forever since our days at U of L,” states Steve. “ We were involved in a lot of the same activities and have remained friends over the years. When she asked about joining the board, I agreed.”
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KYOTR Newport August 20
We are excited about the third stop for Kentucky Writers on the Road as we will be revisiting Place Keepers at Roebling Books and Coffee for another night of rousing readings and music at their Wide Open Mic.
Hosted by Place Keepers, in association with the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition, the evening will feature UACC/Place Keepers artist/writer Michael Thompson, musician Ma Crow and the Foundation’s own Willie Davis reading from Honeysuckle Season. Come grab a cup of coffee, browse the books at this incredible independent bookstore and listen to some interesting readings and music!
August 20, 2026
Roebling Books & Coffee
601 Overton Street
Newport, KY 41071
6-7 PM Open Mic
8-9PM Featured Guests
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2026 Book Award Entries Closed
The deadline for the James Baker Hall Foundation Book Award has closed and we are pleased to announce we received 27 full manuscripts! This year the award category is Creative Nonfiction by a Kentucky author with Creative Nonfiction being:
● Memoir
● Personal Essay/Biography
● Travel Writing
● Factual StorytellingThe judge for the 2026 contest is former Kentucky Poet Laureate, Richard Taylor. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner in October!
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Legacy Corner: Emily Toadvine
One thing we have learned through talking with former students of James Baker Hall is that he instilled a life-long love of writing in them. Just write . . . that’s what he would say. Emily Toadvine relates that is the biggest lesson she learned from her time in Jim’s classes. So she has!
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Emily grew up on a farm in Frankfort. She left to attend college at Transylvania in Lexington, but was very discouraged by the support around writing and creativity. She decided to transfer to the University of Kentucky (UK) and graduated in 1985 with a degree in Journalism.
She went on to the Danville Advocate where she worked as an editor for 25 years. Needing a change, she turned her career to Public Relations and held positions at Hospice and a distillery visitor experience.
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A Middle-Aged Woman Rages
The James Baker Hall Foundation has come to know and love Melissa Jørgerud Helton as the incredibly mellow, inspirational leader of the Literary Arts Program and Director of the Ironwood Writers Studio at the Hindman Settlement School. So when we attended the Northern Kentucky Equinox in March where we were a sponsor, we were thrilled to see Melissa was going to read. She was amazing, but a very different persona. We were blown away by her reading.
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Melissa’s new book of poetry, A Middle-Aged Woman Rages, addresses the complexity of living in today’s world. Add to that the challenges of parenting grown children, divorce and the current political climate and perimenopause, the book hits at the core of reaching middle age.
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Meet Susan Murphy
In this day and age, starting something from scratch requires not only the knowledge of the particular thing you are creating, but also the need to push it out to the world. No
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business or organization can be successful without someone who can take care of information systems so that the good work you are doing reaches beyond the confines of a physical structure.
Meet Susan Murphy, the Information Systems Manager, at the James Baker Hall Foundation. Susan grew up in New York City, but an offer to join her uncle’s market research firm in San Francisco led her to the West Coast. Through a couple of jobs in the Bay area including a stint at United Way of the Bay Area, Susan spent the next few years in San Francisco working and managing IT programs.
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LexPoMo June 2026
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Legacy Corner: Wes Blake
Wes Blake really wasn’t interested in going to college. But as the time neared, he decided to give it a try and headed off to the University of Kentucky to start his life as a business major. It did not go well. After the first year, he was totally unmotivated and knew that the business world would never see the likes of Wes Blake. After his very unsatisfying first year in college, he switched his major to English where he later earned his degree. It was this switch that led to crossing paths with James Baker Hall. After taking two classes with Gurney Norman, Wes signed up to take Jim’s autobiography class.
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Meet Natalia Stanley
If you haven’t been on the Foundation’s social media sites, get moving! Our presence has increased because of the work of Natalia Stanley, Social Media Coordinator. Natalia started with the foundation as an intern one year ago, but has moved to a part-time position because of the level of her work and commitment.
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Natalia ended up in Louisville for college via Chicago where she grew up with her parents and brother. She very quickly fell in love with Louisville and when it came time to choose a law school, she made the decision to enter Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law where she will be a second year student. After law school, Natalia plans to pursue a career in criminal defense here in Kentucky. She is especially interested in work that promotes equity and drives meaningful, systemic change within the justice system. This summer in addition to producing social media content for the Foundation, Natalia is working in the Louisville Public Defenders office where she is excited to get some hands-on experience.
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Hazard to Host First 2026 Kentucky Writers on the Road May 16 at Bobby Davis Museum & Park
Join us as we kick off Kentucky Writers on the Road in Hazard, Kentucky on May 16. The event will be held at Bobby Davis Museum and Park from 4:00—6:00 p.m.
The featured reader will be 2025 James Baker Hall Book Award Winner Willie Davis reading from his winning entry, Honeysuckle Season set in Hazard. As a product of Appalshop parents who divorced early in his life, Hazard became the drop-off point for spending weekdays in Lexington and weekends in Whitesburg. Willie still has family in Hazard and some of his characters are based (very loosely he will say!) on early Hazard memories. The second reader on May 16 will be Hazard poet Jordan Whitaker.
“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome the James Baker Hall Foundation to Hazard on May 16th,” states Read Spotted Newt owner and author Mandi Fugate Sheffel.” It’s going to be a wonderful celebration of Kentucky voices.”
The event is free to the public and light refreshments will be served by Shenanigans. For more information, contact Jane White at jane@jamesbakerhall.org or (502) 379-5250.Kentucky Writers on the Road Hazard
Saturday, May 16
Bobby Davis Museum & Park
234 Walnut Street
Hazard, Kentucky 41702
4:00—6:00 p.m.
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Kentucky Writers on the Road Gears Up for Year Two
Summer is just around the corner and the James Baker Hall Foundation is hitting the road again with our program, Kentucky Writers on the Road. There will be four stops in 2026: Hazard, Louisville, Newport and Morehead. Kentucky Writers on the Road showcases the work of the foundation’s annual book award winner while teaming up with a local arts organization to share the reading stage with local writers. This year we will be kicking off the 2026 tour on Saturday, May 16th in Hazard, Kentucky with Willie Davis reading from Honeysuckle Season, the winner of the 2025 James Baker Hall Book Award.
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James Baker Hall 2025 Book Award Winner Willie Davis
Willie Davis knows the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. Born in Whitesburg as the product of an Appalshop Mom and Dad, his parents divorced early and until graduation, he spent weekdays in Lexington and weekends in Whitesburg with the handoff in Hazard. Through that experience, he adapted to growing up in two very different cultures.
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From Lexington, Willie Davis is the winner of the 2025 James Baker Hall Foundation Book Award for his entry, Honeysuckle Season. Unfolding over a single day, Honeysuckle Season tells the story of a circus van travelling through Hazard, Kentucky that careens off the road, smashing into a line of parked cars, killing a local basketball star. Twelve different narrators offer their take on that event and its aftermath, each story complimenting, deepening, and undermining the stories that came before.
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Short Films Exploring the World of Wendell & Tanya Berry
In July of 2025, Foundation staff traveled to the Speed Museum Cinema in Louisville to view Look and See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry by filmmaker Laura Dunn. We were captivated by the nine short stories and approached Ms. Dunn about presenting them for the Foundation at some point. That time has come!
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On Tuesday, April 14 the James Baker Hall Foundation will present Look and See | Further at the Kentucky Theatre in Lexington. On Thursday, April 16, the short films will be presented in Paducah with our partner Maiden Alley Cinema. The events, fundraisers for the Foundation, will begin at 7:00 p.m. and at the conclusion of the short films, Mary Berry—Wendell and Tanya’s daughter and Executive Director of The Berry Center—will do a Q & A with the audience.
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Richard Taylor to Judge 2026 James Baker Hall Book Award
(more…)It might be April 1, but this is no joke! We’re delighted to announce that the 2026 James Baker Hall Book Award will honor an unpublished, book-length manuscript of Creative Nonfiction by a Kentucky author at any stage of their career. Creative Nonfiction may include memoir, personal essays, biography, travel writing, and other forms grounded in factual storytelling. If you’re unsure whether your manuscript fits the criteria, we encourage you to reach out with questions. Submissions open on April 1.
The Foundation always seeks an independent reviewer and in 2026, we are proud to announce that Richard Taylor will be the judge. He is the author of numerous collections of poetry, two historical novels, and several books relating to Kentucky history, including Elkhorn: Evolution of a Kentucky Landmark. A former Kentucky poet laureate, he has received two creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as an Al Smith Award from the Kentucky Arts Council.
