Festival organizers are delighted that House Speaker Jody Richards and State Senator Brett Guthrie have agreed to serve as "Honorary Co-chairs," and we could find no better ambassadors for our event. Besides the tremendous support they have shown for education and literacy in the General Assembly, each has demonstrated personal interest in the book festival and its mission to encourage reading and love of books, and to have a positive impact on family literacy.

Author commitments are phenomenal with 148 authors confirmed to date. Headliners include Dick Schaap, Bonnie Angelo, Eleanor Clift and Tom Brazaitis, Ronnie Clair Edwards, Earl Hamner, Ralph Emery, Bobbi Ann Mason and many more. About one-fifth of the total are Kentucky authors, with the remainder coming from all across the country. 

A new twist this year is the emphasis on children's activities on Friday. To make the festival interesting and exciting for schoolchildren, there will be a whole new series of "make and do" activities; presentations by Mr. Zig, who uses musical instruments to do a wonderfully entertaining and interactive program; storytelling by Mama Yaw; celebrity readers; performances by local school groups; drama; music; costumed literary characters, plus about 20 children's
authors will be on hand to talk with children and to autograph books. Many of these activities will be repeated Saturday so children and families who were unable to attend on Friday will have opportunity to enjoy the fun.

While our goal is to attract lots of children, adults have not been overlooked. On Saturday the remaining 120+ authors will be at the festival to meet people and to sign books. Many have also agreed to do break-out sessions, taking time to do readings, panel discussions, etc., which gives festival-goers another opportunity to interact with their favorite writers.

Festival organizers are also working with Cory Lash, a WKU Journalism and Broadcasting faculty member, who teaches film-making. For the past several years, Lash has organized a contest among area high schools who are interested in film-making. This year, the students will gather at the book festival to hear presentations by several authors who have experience in film and/or TV. During the program winners of the film competition will be recognized. This is a new activity that will add a whole new dimension to the festival. 

Besides all the planning for this year's festival, Jayne Pelaski, the festival assistant director, and many volunteers have been extremely busy planning "extra" activities to raise festival awareness and to aid fundraising efforts.

In mid-February, the book festival partnered with Famous-Barr to hold an area-wide used book sale. That highly successful venture realized $4,200 which will benefit the festival.

Other activities underway include: 
--  Decorate a Bookshelf Contest: eighteen bookshelves were made available to be decorated using a reading or book-related theme. The finished shelves will be displayed at the festival, then auctioned off later, with the proceeds to benefit the festival.

-- "Meet the Authors" Cocktail Party: A volunteer committee, chaired by Pam Funk, is planning this pre-festival reception. This year, the party will be 7 - 9 p.m., Friday, April 6, at The Kentucky Museum. Tickets are $40/person, with proceeds to benefit the book festival.

--  "Hooks for Books": Again, a volunteer committee has planned a golf scramble that will feature an author/golfer, who will not only be among the players but will also autograph books. The golf scramble will be Saturday, April 21st at Hartland Golf Course in Bowling Green, with proceeds to
benefit the book festival. 

Don't miss this year's Southern Kentucky Festival of Books, scheduled for April 6 & 7 at the Bowling Green/Warren County Convention Center. 

Hours are 10am - 4pm Friday; 9am - 5pm Saturday.

For more information, call the festival office (270) 745-5263 or check the Website:
<www.sokybookfest.org> 

~Earlene Chelf

As mentioned above, the Southern Kentucky Festival of Books is fortunate to have tremendous
support from many area individuals, businesses, corporations. To date, our benefactors include:
 
 

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company awarded a $50,000 corporate grant to Western Kentucky University to create the R.R. Donnelley Glasgow Campus Periodical Endowment Fund.  This generous gift will provide permanent support for the periodical collection at the Glasgow Campus Library.  It also includes a one-time commitment to purchase computer equipment, periodical-display turnstiles and a collection of academic and popular leisure magazines for the new facility. 

The Glasgow campus of Western Kentucky University was established in 1988 and today enrolls an average of 1,200 students per semester.  Students can complete a variety of associate and bachelor degree programs at the Glasgow campus, and a number of graduate courses are also offered.  Construction on a new Regional Postsecondary Educational Center in Glasgow, which will house both the WKU Glasgow Campus and programs under the authority of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, is projected to be completed in August of this year.  The Glasgow Campus Library was opened at the present site of the campus in 1990 with the help of a large donation from the Business and Professional Women's Club of Glasgow and serves as a general reference library with primary emphasis on serving undergraduate needs.  The current collection includes standard reference sources, current reading materials such as local, regional and national newspapers, and a collection of general interest magazines.  The library is equipped with state of the art electronic reference sources as well.  Over the last ten years the Glasgow Campus Library has enjoyed support from local business and industry, including R.R. Donnelley, which operates a printing facility  in Glasgow.

"The generosity of R.R. Donnelley will permit our Glasgow Campus Library to greatly expand access to both academic and leisure periodicals," said Brian Coutts, head of WKU Library Public Services.  "The R.R. Donnelley gift will also allow us to offer a unique opportunity for students to have flexible connections to electronic databases though laptop computers, which is a service we are not yet able to provide to students on the main campus." 
Dr. Mike Binder, Dean of the WKU Libraries and Kentucky Museum, said "We are grateful that R.R. Donnelley  places such a high value on the WKU Glasgow Campus Library, and we look forward to providing students with a wide variety of resources in the R.R. Donnelley Periodical Collection when the new facility opens in August." 

Marlin Harker, vice president and division director of R.R. Donnelley's Glasgow facility noted, "R.R. Donnelley is pleased to enhance our long partnership with Western Kentucky University by providing funds for the Glasgow Campus Library.  The Regional Postsecondary Education Center will enhance the learning and development opportunities for our employees, their families and the entire Glasgow community.  We are committed to giving back to the
communities where our employees live and work."

R.R. Donnelley, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading printer, communications services and logistics company.  Its Glasgow plant, established in 1970, has over 1,200 employees engaged in the production of special-interest magazines. 

~Robbin Taylor
   

The Hilliard-Lyons Charitable Contributions Committee recently announced a $24,500 commitment to the Western Kentucky University Libraries to fund the purchase of computer equipment and software in the Educational Resources Center (ERC). This gift will enable the ERC to purchase 14 state-of-the art computer workstations, a printer and educational software
for use by students in the College of Education.  "This gift will transform the existing technological resources in the ERC and thus provide our future teachers with cutting-edge technology and educational software," said Darla Bressler, Coordinator, Educational Resources Center. "We will now be able to provide WKU students who are entering Kentucky classrooms as teachers with the confidence and skills to utilize current educational software, incorporate technology into the existing curriculum and impart this knowledge of technology to their students. Moreover this knowledge will enable students in Kentucky schools to meet the Student Technology Standards mandated by the Kentucky Education Reform Act. In short, this gift will make a significant difference in the lives of many individuals..." she added. The Hilliard Lyons Charitable Contributions Committee considers applications for assistance for capital projects that are submitted by Hilliard Lyons offices from communities
around the Commonwealth. A key factor in the committee's decision to fund projects is the involvement by local Hilliard Lyons employees in the organization for which funding is requested. Both Pete Mahurin, senior vice president and branch manager of Hilliard Lyons in Bowling Green, and Bob Kirby, financial consultant/trust officer, are active at Western Kentucky
University and have given significant contributions of time and resources to the Investing in the Spirit campaign. "Pete is a founding member and is a past chairman of the WKU Foundation Board of Trustees and serves on the Investing in the Spirit Campaign Cabinet. Bob is the immediate past president of the WKU Alumni Association and just completed a term on the WKU Foundation board, and he currently serves on the Campaign Cabinet as well. Both have been an integral part of Western's first major comprehensive fund raising campaign and have been true friends of Western Kentucky University for many years," said Tom Hiles, vice president for Development and Alumni Relations.  "Bob is well known in Bowling Green for his leadership and civic involvement," said Dr. Mike Binder, Dean of the University Libraries and The Kentucky Museum. "He is a tremendous
asset to the Libraries Advisory Council and we are grateful that Hilliard Lyons is the kind of company that recognizes its employees' contributions to their communities by supporting their civic interests."

~Robbin Taylor

 

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