Kentucky Book Festival

Save the Date: November 10 - 16, 2019

Kentucky Humanities wishes to thank the sponsors, authors, volunteers, community partners, patrons, educators, booksellers, vendors, and exhibitors who made our inaugural Kentucky Book Festival a success! Save the date for the 2019 event, coming November 10-16, 2019!

The Kentucky Book Fair, featuring 180 authors, will again occur at the Alltech Arena (Kentucky Horse Park). Special events and guests will be announced soon.

Join us for another exciting festival this November, starting on Sunday, November 10. We're planning another incredible year and will begin to post schedules in August.

Check out this recap from the 2018 Kentucky Book Festival, featuring clips from some of the exciting programs that occurred throughout the week. According to Jon Parrish Peede (Chair, National Endowment for the Humanities), "This is Kentucky's Book Festival in a way that's authentically here...and that's what I love about it...I love the honoring of local culture, but also bringing the world to Kentucky." Wendell Berry remarked from the stage last year, "Well, I think that the great service to us of the great books is that they give us permission to take serious things seriously...If they are well-written...they also give us permission to be delighted with delightful things."

Thanks to our generous sponsors:

And our partners:

Anti-Harassment Policy:

Kentucky Humanities has implemented a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, color, age, national origin, sex (including transgender status, gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), religion, disability, genetic information, marital status, political affiliation, or status as a parent.

The Kentucky Book Festival has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment of any kind, whether in person or via email/social media/other electronic means, including but not limited to:

Stalking or intimidation
Offensive verbal comments
Physical assault and/or battery
Harassing or non-consensual photography or recordings
Bathroom policing
Inappropriate, unwelcome, or uninvited physical contact or attention

Should someone engage in any of these harassing behaviors, Kentucky Humanities staff will alert venue security, who will take immediate action in whatever form they deem appropriate, including expulsion from the event. This policy applies in all venues and areas of the Festival, to all who participate: staff, volunteers, authors, exhibitors, attendees, guests, vendors, press, and others.

If you have been made uncomfortable by someone’s harassing behavior, or if you see harassing behavior happening to anyone else, please tell us. You can report an incident at a KH-staffed Welcome table, at the Kentucky Book Fair Author Check-In table and/or the Volunteer and Information table, or tell the nearest Festival volunteer, and they will find a Kentucky Humanities staff member to assist you. If necessary, we will contact local law enforcement, provide an escort, offer a safe place, or otherwise assist anyone feeling unsafe so that the rest of their experience at KBF is safe and pleasant.

More About the Festival

In 2018, the Kentucky Book Fair became the centerpiece of a six-day celebration of books and authors: the Kentucky Book Festival. The Fair, which has a long tradition in Kentucky, now serves as the endcap of literary events that span a week's worth of activities in downtown Lexington. Watch this video for a description of last year's events, including remarks from a special ceremony including former Mayor Jim Gray.