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A poetry reading and discussion featuring Kentucky poets Pat Williams Owen, Leatha Kendrick, Melva Priddy, and Lennie Hay. During the reading each poet will introduce, and provide a copy to the attendees, of one poem that was difficult to write. The program will include opportunity for discussion among the poets and audience engagement. Doors will open at 5:00 pm. Refreshments will be provided and books will be available for purchase. The program will begin at 5:30p.m. ET.
Free public event.
About the Poets:
PAT WILLIAMS OWEN is the author of four poetry books, including The Crossroad (Shadelandhouse Modern Press, 2025), Bardo of Becoming (Accents Publishing, 2022), Orion's Belt at the End of the Drive (Accents Publishing, 2019), and Crossing the Sky Bridge (Larkspur Press, 2016). Her work has appeared in Gulf Stream Magazine, Highland Park Poetry, The Hong Kong Review, The Louisville Review, Raven's Perch, other print and online literary journals, and several anthologies. She was a finalist in the Atlanta Review International Poetry Competition and an award winner in the Chautauqua Writers' Center 2020 Literary Arts Contest.
Praise for The Crossroad
"These poignant and deeply reflective poems capture the essence of life's pivotal moments—from tender memories of family and childhood to profound reflections on grief. '1974 Sanibel Island' chronicles the pain and wonder of choosing your true path, even at the risk of alienating—perhaps even harming—those you love. It beautifully captures a moment in time, blending nostalgia with the tension of impending change. Sadly, it's followed by a series of poems that chronicle the heartbreaking illness and loss of her beloved. Typical of Owen's poetry, this pain is telegraphed through small moments brilliantly observed." —Patricia Averbach, author of Resurrecting Rain and Dreams of Drowning
LEATHA KENDRICK grew up on a southern Kentucky farm, daughter of a veterinarian and a high school home economics teacher. Oldest of four children, she was most at home in fields or barns (when not reading a book on the window seat and looking out at the horizon). Her adult life was spent in eastern Kentucky where she and her husband raised three daughters. Kendrick began writing seriously in midlife and found a first community of writers in Appalachia. Among her writing awards are two Al Smith fellowships from the Kentucky Arts Council, as well as the Sallie Bingham Award and fellowships and grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Her poems, essays, memoir, and book reviews appear in journals including Tar River Poetry, Appalachian Heritage, New Madrid Review, and others. She currently lives with her husband and one lively small black dog in Lexington, Kentucky. And Luckier is her fifth collection of poems. Kendrick was selected by Transylvania University as the winner of the 2025 Judy Gaines Young Book Award, which has been recognizing exceptional works of Appalachian writers for the past 10 years.
Praise for And Luckier
"Kendrick's powerful fifth collection springs from a mature poet's reckoning: with the family she was given and the family she has made, with the struggle to answer her calling as an artist, with the dangers and diminishments of age, and with her privileged place in a suffering world. And Luckier opens with a dispassionate question: "who might it serve that you / would grow downhearted?" The poems that follow take us through many voices, subjects, and perspectives, bringing us at last to this hard-won counsel: "So much suffering. We cannot uncause it / But we can set ourselves to mend, / ... I will pick up the rubble. / I will carry one stone at a time."—George Ella Lyon
MELVA SUE PRIDDY, an American poet, grew up working on her family's dairy and tobacco farm in Hardin County, Kentucky. She received a BA from Berea College, an MEd from the University of Kentucky, and an MFA from Spalding University. Priddy taught English Language Arts and Creative Writing for twenty years. Her poems have been published in Appalachian Review, Lexington Poetry Month, Motes, and Still: The Journal, among other print and online publications. She lives in Winchester, Kentucky, with her husband, and together they own a small farm in White Mills, Kentucky. The Tillable Land, her debut book, was selected as a finalist in the 2022 Weatherford Awards, Poetry.
Praise for The Tillable Land
"This hard-won book of poetry portrays a family determined to beat a living out of the land—without realizing they belong to it. There is little comfort and there are very few moments even of calm in this hardscrabble farm life, a blunt reality these poems note, yet the speaker of these words so clearly longed for affection. What got left out? What in the speaker's recollection of her childhood was misguided or poorly handled? In The Tillable Land, the poet's answer is heavily shaded with ambiguity. Growing up and coming of age in these poems requires a tug in two directions at once—the desire to flee and the desire to hold on have held equal sway. It is a powerful double bond and makes the poet's response all the more poignant."
—Maurice Manning, author of Railsplitter
LENNIE HAY is a 2019 MFA graduate of Spalding University. She grew up in the Midwest between two cultures—Chinese immigrants and German Ukrainian farmers. A former educator, she lived in Louisville for nearly 50 years and now lives near the water in Southern Indiana and in Florida drawing energy from the natural world, visual art, her family’s history, and music. Lennie has been published in journals such as the Louisville Review, Literary Accents, Heartland Review, the Shanghai Literary Review and in two anthologies. Her book, Lost in America, was published in 2024 by Broadstone Books.
Praise for Lost in America
Neither Cantonese daughter, nor German farm girl, the speaker in these poems seeks to stake a place for herself and her family—a welcoming place, free of prejudice, where one can feel at home in one’s country of birth. During her own journey, she seeks answers to family secrets, embraces the natural beauty of the landscape, savors succulent flavors, connects with past and present members of an ever-evolving family. I love the luscious language of these poems, the moving and relatable voice, the stories of forgiveness and deep understanding that we need more than ever.
—Katerina Stoykova, author of Between a Bird Cage and a Bird House
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning, 251 West Second St.,Lexington, Kentucky, United States
