Resource and Reference Tools
About this Page:
This page contains resources and tools for anyone who would like to learn more about Kentucky authors. Here, you can find...
- Bibliographies and Imprints: Books that contain lists of Kentucky authors and their publications
- Archival Material: Papers and information collected by individuals about Kentucky authors, housed in the University of Kentucky's archives
- Oral History Projects: Collections of audio interviews by and about Kentucky authors
- Biographical Collections: Books that contain short biographical sketches of Kentucky authors
- Video and Cassette Documentary: Analog recordings by and about Kentucky authors
- Organizations: Groups dedicated to promoting and preserving Kentucky literature
- Conferences: Conferences, meetings, fairs, and celebrations of Kentucky authors
- Local and Community Resources
- InfoKat Discovery: How to search the University of Kentucky's Library
- General Databases: Large databases with access provided by the University of Kentucky
Bibliographies and Imprints
Appalachian Authors: A Selective Bibliography by ISBN: 9780933951358Publication Date: 1990-03-01Bibliography; 191 pages. Provides both primary and secondary source materials for 17 authors, representing a wide range of interests and talents, and chosen for their distinctive place in Appalachian literature .
A Bibliography and Collector's Guide of Kentucky Authors and Their Books by ISBN: 9781599756349Publication Date: 2005Bibliography; 282 pages. "Over 3000 titles with accurate descriptions and easy guide for determining first editions."
Early Kentucky Literature, 1750-1840 by Publication Date: 1931Bibliography and Criticism; 104 pages, first edition. Free digital reproduction available through HathiTrust Digital Library. "In its broadest sense, Kentucky's early literature is only a reflection, a reproduced image, an echo of the struggle and the romance of life in this country during its formative period..." -- Introduction.
Check list of Kentucky imprints, 1787-1810 by Publication Date: 1964
Check list of Kentucky imprints, 1811-1820 by Publication Date: 1964- Supplemental check list of Kentucky imprints, 1788-1820, including the initial printing of the original Kentucky copyright ledger, 1800-1854, and the first account of the run of Baptist Minutes in the collection of Mr. Henry S. Robinson. byPublication Date: 1942241 pages. Supplementary to the 2 check lists of Kentucky imprints for the years 1787-1810 and 1811-1820, comp. by Douglas C. McMurtrie and Albert H. Allen. Free digital reproduction available through ExploreUK.
- Looking at Kentucky's Living Literary Legacy: a Bibliography byPublication Date: 1979
- Understanding Kentucky Through Literature: An Annotated Bibliography byPublication Date: 198512 pages; illustrations.
- Rare Kentucky Books, 1776-1926; a Check and Finding List of Scarce, Fugitive, Curious and Interesting Books and Pamphlets, With Annotations and Prices Current Appended, byPublication Date: 1939"Published in November, 1938." "First edition, 350 copies, of which this is number 155." 199 pages; frontispiece, facsimiles, 24 cm.
Biographical Collections
- Biographical and Critical Materials Pertaining to Kentucky Authors: Prepared From Sources Available in the Louisville Free Public Library byPublication Date: 1941Louisville Library Collection, Biography Series, volume 2. "The present work on Kentucky Authors will be found replete with essential information relating to a very complete list of the literary personalities of Kentucky... The human interest element is present in many of the sketches as some of the authors treated began their life and work in obscure rural communities, often in extreme poverty, and have subsequently achieved fame and universal recognition through their literary efforts."--Preface.
Blades o' Bluegrass: Choice Selections of Kentucky Poetry, Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Authors by Publication Date: 1892Free digital copy available on Explore UK. "This volume is offered as a miniature representation of Kentucky verse for the one hundred years that is has been a state. The whole field of poetry has been traversed from the pioneer days to the present time, and en effort made to have every known poet of merit represented. Besides selections made from published books, there are also many fugitive verses that never went beyond the "Poet's Corner" in a newspaper, while some are here in print for the first time." -- Preface.
Conversations with Kentucky Writers by
First published in 1996. Kentucky and Kentuckians are full of stories, which may be why so many present-day writers have Kentucky roots. Whether they left and returned, like Wendell Berry and Bobbie Ann Mason, or adopted Kentucky as home, like James Still and Jim Wayne Miller, or grew up and left for good, like Michael Dorris and Barbara Kingsolver, they have one connection: Kentucky has influenced their writing and their lives. L. Elisabeth Beattie explores this influence in twenty intimate interviews. Conversations with Kentucky Writers was more than three years in the making, as Beattie traveled across the state and beyond to capture oral histories on tape. Her exhaustive knowledge of these authors helped her draw out personal revelations about their work, their lives, and the nature of writing. When Still concludes his interview with "I believe I've told you more than anybody," he could be speaking for any of Beattie's subjects. Aspiring writers will learn that Mason submitted twenty stories to the New Yorker before one was accepted, and that Still wrote articles for Sunday school magazines. There's plenty of advice: Dorris tells budding authors to get real jobs, keep journals, and read everything, even cereal boxes, and Marsha Norman reminds playwrights that "it is not the business of the theater to provide writers with a living." Kingsolver advises, "Read good stuff and write bad stuff until eventually what you're writing begins to approximate what you're reading." Beattie's collection includes striking self-portraits of such writers as Sue Grafton, Leon Driskell, James Baker Hall, Fenton Johnson, George Ella Lyon, Taylor McCafferty, Ed McClanahan, Sena Naslund, Chris Offutt, Lee Pennington, and Betty Layman Receveur.What most distinguishes these moving conversations from other author interviews is their focus on creativity, on the teaching of writing, and on the authors' strong sense of place.As Wade Hall writes in his foreword, all twenty writers recognize that their works have been significantly influenced by their "Kentucky experience." This collection offers insights into Kentucky's rich and flowering literary heritage.
ISBN: 9780813190433Publication Date: 2003-03-01
Conversations with Kentucky Writers II by
First published in 1999. In this sequel to Conversations with Kentucky Writers, L. Elisabeth Beattie brings together in-depth interviews with sixteen of the state's premiere wordsmiths. This new volume offers the perspectives of poets, journalists, and scholars as they discuss their views on creativity, the teaching of writing, and the importance of Kentucky in their work. They talk frankly about how and why they do what they do. The writers speak for themselves, and their thoughts come alive on the page. Beattie's interviews reveal the allegiances and alliances among Kentucky writers that have shaped literary trends by bringing together people with shared interests, values, subjects, and styles. The interviewees include authors who are captivated in other writers and in what they have to say about the process and craft of writing; educators who are interested in Kentucky writers and what their work reveals about the nature of creativity; and historians who are concerned with Kentucky's literary and cultural heritage. The interviews reveal patterns in Kentucky literature from mid-century to the millennium, as authors talk about how their sense of place has changed over the decades and reveal the ways in which the roots of Kentucky writing have produced a literary flowering at the century's end. Includes: Sallie Bingham, Joy Bale Boone, Thomas D. Clark, John Egerton, Sarah Gorham, Lynwood Montell, Maureen Morehead, John Ed Pearce, Ameilia Blossom Pegram, Karen Robards, Jeffrey Skinner, Frederick Smock, Frank Steele, Martha Bennett Stiles, Richard Taylor, and Michael Williams.
ISBN: 9780813121246Publication Date: 1999-10-07- Dear Old Kentucky: A Book of Readings and Recitations From Kentucky Authors byPublication Date: 1900Free digital copy available on Google and HathiTrust.
- From bluegrass to rhododendron : journeys through literary KentuckyPublication Date: 1994
God's Plenty: Modern Kentucky writersPublication Date: 1990
Kentucky Authors: a History of Kentucky Literature by Publication Date: 1968
Kentucky in American Letters by Publication Date: 1913-1976Three volumes. Digital copies available through several different platforms.- Kentucky in Fiction byPublication Date: 1981
- Kentucky Literature byPublication Date: 1994This book contains biographies of Kentucky Authors written by students in a Eastern Kentucky University English Class 1994.
Named authors: Harry Brown; Billy C Clark; Janice Holt Giles; A B Guthrie, Jr.; Barbara Kingsolver; George Ella Lyon; Elizabeth Madox Roberts; James Still; Jesse Stuart; Robert Penn Warren; Irvin S Cobb; Wendell Berry; Garry Barker; Harriette Louisa Simpson Arnow; James Lane Allen; James Lane Allen; Harriette Louisa Simpson Arnow; Wendell Berry; Billy C Clark; Irvin S Cobb; Janice Holt Giles; A B Guthrie, Jr.; Barbara Kingsolver; George Ella Lyon; Elizabeth Madox Roberts; James Still; Jesse Stuart; Robert Penn Warren 
Kentucky Literature, 1784-1963 by Publication Date: 1963- Kentucky Writing byPublication Date: 1985-
- Kentucky Writing: a Collection of New Writing byPublication Date: 1954-
A Literary History of Kentucky by Publication Date: 1988- Looking at Kentucky's Living Literary Legacy: a Bibliography byPublication Date: 1979
- Selected Kentucky LiteraturePublication Date: 1980
- Some Kentucky Authors of the Twentieth CenturyPublication Date: 1955?
- Kentucky Literature: A Retrospective Glance Across Half a Century, 1900-1950 byPublication Date: 1956134 pages; portraits; 23 cm. Free digital reproduction available on HathiTrust.
Video and Cassette Documentary
- At the Forks of Troublesome 15th Annual Appalachian Writers WorkshopCall Number: SC-V40891 videocassette (57 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in.
In a workshop held at Hindman Settlement School, prominent Kentucky authors read excerpts from their writings. Participants include James Still, Jim Wayne Miller, Lee Smith, Gurney Norman, Chris Holbrook, Al Stewart, George Ella Lyon, and Ed McClanahan. Randy Wilson provides musical accompaniment for James Still. - Kentucky Voices: A Bicentennial Celebration of Writing byPublication Date: 1992Sound recording. Eight Kentucky writers read from their own works; previously recorded as part of the Kentucky Center for the Arts' Readings series beginning in 1988. Named persons: James Still; Marsha Norman; Jim Wayne Miller; Sena Jeter Naslund; Sarah Gorham; Jeffrey Skinner; Maureen Podshadley Morehead; Fenton Johnson.
7 audiocassettes.
Find Books and More Through InfoKat Discovery
InfoKat Discovery allows you to quickly search multiple library resources simultaneously.
InfoKat Discovery searches the majority of UK resources, including books, journal articles, dissertations, government documents, archives and special collections, images, maps, videos, music and open access content.
BUT, InfoKat Discovery does NOT include ALL of the journal articles available through our databases--some databases are not included in InfoKat Discovery.
If you are doing very specialized searching or wish to limit your search to a particular database, you can select the database of your choice using the UK Libraries' Databases search.
The UK Libraries arranges books by Library of Congress (LC) call number. LC call numbers begin with letters of the alphabet. For example, most books on language and literature are in the range of P call numbers.
If Young Library is the location, check the Young Library map to determine the floor and wing for each call number. The P call numbers (language and literature) are split between the 4th floor and 5th floor.
If a book is located in another campus library, be sure to note the library location and call number. Check our list of library locations and the hours for each library.
General Databases
These databases aren't specific to any discipline, but they contain a variety of useful resources.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowMulti-disciplinary full-text database with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Indexes and abstracts more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, and conference proceedings.
- Nexis UniNexis Uni provides full-text access to over 15,000 news, business, and legal sources. The outstanding news coverage includes deep archives and up-to-the-minute stories in national and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language news services.
- Access World NewsFull-text of over 600 U.S. newspapers. Access World News also covers over 1,300 foreign English-language news resources. Spanish-language editions of the newspapers are also included.
- InfoKat Discovery This link opens in a new windowInfoKat Discovery allows you to quickly search multiple UK library resources simultaneously, including books, journal articles, dissertations, government documents, archives and special collections, images, maps, videos, music and open access content. InfoKat Discovery does NOT include all of the journal articles available through our databases.
- E-Journals A-ZTitle-by-title database of the journals available full-text in electronic form through University of Kentucky Libraries' subscriptions. The primary purpose of the E-Journals Database is to give you access to specific, known journal titles you are seeking. (Search for JOURNAL here, not ARTICLE.)
- Notable Kentucky African AmericansContains short biographies of notable African Americans with Kentucky roots or ties, organized by profession or subject. Also includes entries for events and locations. Includes links to related resources.
- Literature OnlineA fully searchable Library of literary works of English and American poetry, drama and prose, plus biographies, bibliographies, key criticism and reference resources.
Archival Material
- Collection, 1929-1959 byArchival material. Papers collected by Woodbridge for a proposed biographical/bibliographical dictionary of Ky. authors. The bulk of the papers consist of letters from authors giving details of their lives and work. Also included are newspaper clippings containing information on various authors. Authors include Richard A. Briggs, Billy Curtis Clark, Janice Holt Giles, James A. Jewell, Robbie Trent, Lowell A. Williams, and others.
Organizations
UKnowledge
UKnowledge is a digital collection of unique scholarship created by University of Kentucky faculty, staff, students, departments, research centers, and administration. As a strategic initiative launched by UK Libraries to support multidisciplinary collaboration, UKnowledge is managed by specialists and sustained by dedicated funding. It captures, stores, organizes, and provides open and stable worldwide access to UK's intellectual capital, and also facilitates reuse of deposited materials to the extent warranted by copyright law or by the licensing terms of the concerned materials. Members of UK's academic community are encouraged to contribute their scholarship to UKnowledge.
In 2014, UPK and UK Libraries began working together to digitize UPK titles and to offer them freely to the UK community through UKnowledge. Read more here.