A Kentucky Poet Laureate is slated to speak at Northern Kentucky University’s Frank Steely Library in late September.
Crystal Wilkinson will speak at Steely Library on Sept. 30 at 6:30 p.m. Wilkinson is the author of “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts,” a culinary memoir that reflects on the familial history and unique recipes of Black Appalachian food traditions. Her other works include “The Birds of Opulence,” which won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and “Blackberries, Blackberries.”
The event is sponsored by NKU’s Friends of Steely Library and is free and open to the public. It will take place in the Eva G. Farris Reading Room
Wilkinson, who was raised in Casey County, became Kentucky’s poet laureate in 2021 and is the first Black woman to hold this title.

