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>> Message from the Director

many thanks to our sponsors

LexArts, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, the University of Kentucky Libraries, and the Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau have together contributed nearly 50 percent of the cash needed to pay our visiting artists this year: presenters, Gypsy Slam poets, and contest winners. Another 25 percent comes from individual donors, and Frank X Walker leads this group with his 10-year pledge of first prize money for the Faith A. Smith Poetry Prize, awarded to the winner of our Gypsy Poetry Slam in honor of his mother, whom he credits with inspiring him to becoming a poet. We express our gratitude to all the individuals who gave so generously; they will be acknowledged by name in our conference program. For details on adding your name to their company, visit our Contribute page.

For those of you still counting, the remaining 25 percent of artists' stipends comes from the University of Kentucky. UK also provides operating expenses and staff salaries, kept lean by generous in-kind donations and by permanent staff who are only 50 percent time (myself as director) and 25 percent time (Vaughan as associate director).

The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning is our most important in-kind donor, providing free use of its beautiful, comfortable, and historic building for our daytime sessions and Sunday night reading. Very few communities in the United States can boast of an institution like the Carnegie Center, and none can justly call themselves the Literary Capital of Mid-America, as we do on the basis of our combined efforts. The Downtown Arts Center donates its dramatic black box theater for our Gypsy Poetry Slam, and Portofino Restaurant has become our favorite venue for an elegant and delicious plenary luncheon. The Kentucky Theatre is hosting our film screening to open the conference on September 15, and while it cannot donate use of its facilities, Manager Fred Miles goes above and beyond the rental agreement to ensure the success of our evening.

Media sponsors are Smiley Pete Publications, source of the Chevy Chaser and Southsider monthlies, and WUKY FM 91.3, the University of Kentucky's public radio station. Our bookseller is the Morris Book Shop. We encourage your loyalty to each of these, as their support has been crucial to our success.

I became director of the conference in 2007 after serving for three years on its board. My background is in book publishing. During a decade in that business in Washington, D.C., I had the privilege of editing some of Kentucky's most beloved authors—Wendell Berry, Ed McClanahan, and the late Guy Davenport. Arriving in Lexington in 2002 already knowing these eminent Kentuckians was a happy coincidence for me. After these nine years of residing in the Bluegrass, I better understand the rich sense of place that inspires its many artists.

About 1,000 individuals attend the conference each year. Daytime sessions attract about 150 writers at all stages of development, and free evening events gather a lively community of readers. Most come seeking literary sisterhood, help with a manuscript, or practical advice about the publishing industry. Many are students or beginning writers. If there is a universal thread running through our varied programming, it is that great writers are almost always great readers, whose most profound relationships are with other books and authors. Modeling this lifestyle to young people, whether they are aspiring writers themselves or merely enthusiastic critics, is an increasingly essential part of their cultural inheritance. We hope to see you in September!