A book is a gift you can open again and again. ~Garrison Keillor
One of my favorite things to do as a writer is talk to readers and other writers. And one of the best times to do that is at a book fair or festival. The Kentucky Book Fair is one of the best in our state. This year marks its 37th year. I haven’t been there every year, but I have sat behind a table of books at many of those years. This year I’ll have my new book, River to Redemption, along with a couple of my other books.
I was at the Kentucky Book Fair when it was held at the Kentucky State Library. I had my young adult and middle reader books then. One of the most fun comments I’ve ever received was from a young teen who bought a book from me early on a book fair day and then came back later that day to say she’d found a reading nook somewhere there at the fair and had read my whole book. Oh, and she liked it.
But I have had fun and enjoyed meeting readers at all the Fairs I’ve attended. I missed a few years in between my young adult books and my inspirational novels for adults now. But since I came back on board with those novels I think I’ve been at the Fair thirteen straight years. The Fair was at the State Library until it outgrew that place. Then it was at a gym on the Kentucky State University for several years. It moved from there to the Frankfort Convention Center. After that building was scheduled for demolition, the Fair moved to the Kentucky Horse Park last year and will be there at the Alltech Arena again this year. Thank goodness book lovers follow the Book Fair wherever it is being held.
The timing makes this Book Fair extra fun since so many people come to the Fair with Christmas shopping lists. It is fun to hunt out those perfect books for your family. They surely love finding autographed books under the tree. It’s great to buy a few gift books for yourself too. You can check out the authors and their books here.
You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child. ~Dr. Seuss
One of the fun things about looking back at some of the photos from previous fairs is seeing the grandkids. They love books and have gotten to come to several of the Fairs. You can see how they’ve grown up since those early pictures.
It’s also fun to see my writer friends at the Fair. Virginia Smith and I have taken many pictures together at the Kentucky Book Fair. I haven’t taken that many with Santa, but one year I got to give him my book Christmas list. 
So now I’ll have to see what fun pictures I can take this year.
The Book Fair is happening this Saturday, November 17th, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Alltech Arena. I hope if you live near enough you get to come to the Book Fair. If you do, be sure to hunt up my book table and say hello. I love meeting my internet buddies at book events.
Have you ever been to a book fair? If so, what did you like best about it?
Leave a comment to get an entry in my Shaker book giveaway. I’ll draw for the winner on Sunday. Winner will win her or his choice of one of my Shaker books. If you commented on Sunday’s post, you are entered but you can get an additional entry by commenting again on this post. Doubles your chance of winning.
As always, thanks for reading.