‘Homegrown Authors’ Emerges Out of ‘Now What, Lexington’

The following is a guest post by Neil Chethik. Neil is writer-in-residence at the Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning.

We at the Carnegie Center were honored last spring to co-host the “Now What, Lexington?” gathering in our historic, downtown building. We’re even more thrilled by the partnerships that have emerged from that day-long get-together of Lexington activists.

Here’s one partnership I’d like to highlight today: The Carnegie Center, the Morris Book Shop and Lexington Farmers Market all had representatives at “Now What?” While brainstorming at the un-conference, we came up with the idea for “Homegrown Authors,” a Farmers Market booth where local authors would be able sell their books.

Our first Homegrown Author booth day was Saturday, June 12. I joined Abigail Keam at the booth that day. Keam, who has sold honey and other products at the market for years, recently published her first book, Death by a Honeybee, a bee-keeper mystery. Her book and mine (FatherLoss and VoiceMale) sold briskly that morning.

Since then, other local authors have brought their literary art to the booth, including Ian Epperson (Love Songs for the Apocalypse, a memoir about leaving a drug-addicted lifestyle and working with the poor in North Lexington) and Jan Isenhour (When the Bough Breaks, a book of short stories by members of Isenhour’s KABOOM writing).

The Carnegie/Morris/Farmers Market partnerships are, to me, the nutritious fruit of the “Now What?” gathering. This partnership brings together people and groups that want to: 1) broaden support for arts and entertainment, 2) celebrate artistic achievement, 3) use downtown space to enhance the art/entertainment scene, 4) help artists sell their work to the public.

Thank you to ProgressLex for inspiring this particular partnership, and for working to create a thriving, diverse and beautiful Lexington that serves all citizens.

Here’s the lineup for future Homegrown Authors booths at the Market:

Saturday, July 24: J.D. Lester (Mommy Calls Me Monkeypants and Daddy Calls Me Doodlebug) and Leslie Guttman (Equine E.R.).

Saturday, Aug. 7: Donna Ison (The Miracle of Myrtle: Saint Gone Wild) and Joel DiGirolamo (Yoga in No Time at All).