What is Literary Louisville?

Is it . . .
Several top-notch reading series? Excellent bookstores? Writing workshops? Academic programs? Small presses, journals, and local writers meeting to critique one another’s work?

These questions have been raised among writers, educators, publishers, and booksellers in our community time and again, most recently as a panel discussion at the 2010 Idea Festival. According to Jen Woods of Typecast Publishing, Louisville Literary Arts and The Writer’s Block Festival, “If we could just put everybody in the same room, Louisville could blossom into an amazing literary town.” Everybody, in Woods’ opinion, includes the likes of Jeff Hipsher of “Catch Up: A Journal of Comics and Literature”, Dave Daly of “Five Chapters”, the folks at “Goodwill Zine”, and Lynnell Edwards, president of Louisville Literary Arts and the InKY Reading Series.
But Woods couldn’t pin down an answer to the question, what is Literary Louisville? Few people can, but many literary players believe, along with Woods, that Louisville is ready to take off into the literary stratosphere. Caroline Casey, director of marketing and development at Sarabande Books suggests that, “When literary communities are nascent, and just beginning to coalesce (and I’d put Louisville in that camp), it’s really important to not think in terms of scarcity. Yes, an organized scene here is only in the beginning stages, and yes, there should be concern about critical mass, but the way you build that crucial energy and involvement is by celebrating the sum of what Louisville has to offer. This is a city that is so proud of its history, its parks, its cultural life, it stands to reason that its literary capital be a source of pride too.” Woods concurs. “Louisville doesn’t suffer from a lack of pride. Other cities don’t have the same enthusiasm for their own – the music scene, Lebowski Fest – the lit. scene fits in so perfectly with weird things in Louisville.”

What has attributed to the growth in Louisville’s literary identity?

Kathleen Driskell, associate program director at Spalding University’s MFA in Writing program, and author of the poetry collection “Seed Across Snow”, gives credit to the Spalding MFA Program, Spalding’s literary journal, “The Louisville Review”, Sarabande Books, and especially the InKY Reading Series. “The most positive change I see in Louisville’s literary scene came with the founding of the InKY reading series and its continued vibrancy. I’m proud to say that this series was founded by three Spalding MFA grads, including local wonder Erin Keane, who saw a need for a regular reading series and made it happen.”
Caroline Casey also credits InKY for growing interest in the local literary arts, but sees continued interest developing through cooperative engagement. Lynnell Edwards has been a strong supporter of the Sarabande Reading Series at 21c Hotel and Carmichael’s Bookstore carries Sarabande titles and hosts Sarabande events. Woods also lauds Carmichael’s Bookstore: “We have one of the best independent booksellers in the United States right here in Louisville!” Casey believes the key to the continued success of our literary community is mutual support: “I think the key thing is to remember that it’s about community, not cliques.”

How does the literary scene in Louisville compare to regional cities like Lexington and Cincinnati?

Before there was InKY and the Sarabande Reading Series, Louisville audiences interested in hearing new authors had The Kentucky Author Forum and the Axton Reading Series at UofL. The brief-residency Spalding MFA program also hosts the Festival of Contemporary Writing twice a year. But according to Driskell, “Our community writers really don’t have the resources that others have in places like Lexington, where The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning is a busy hub for everything literary in that city. I know our Louisville writers would love to have a central place–outside the university environs–to have readings, workshops, and provide volunteering opportunities to work with literacy programs.” Woods also longs for a Carnegie Center model in Louisville. “Why can’t we do that here?”

Across the river in Ohio, Cincinnati has a thriving literary scene with the Bon Motley and Art Academy of Cincinnati reading series, literary journals such as “Milk Money” and “The Cincinnati Review”, several academic writing programs, plus the workshop group Women Writing for a Change. Eric Appleby, co-editor along with Matt Hart, of “Forklift, Ohio: A Journal of Poetry, Cooking, & Light Industrial Safety”, described Cincinnati’s literary scene as “lively” due to the emergence of curated reading series. “The quality of the readers and work has been consistently high.” Nevertheless, Appleby has worked with both Typecast Publishing/Lumberyard Magazine and Sarabande Books and has “great admiration for the people and presses of Louisville” and plans to bring Forklift, Ohio to The Writer’s Block Festival.

Judging from the standing-room-only attendance at the opening night of InKY’s 2011-2012 season, Literary Louisville is very much alive, enthusiastic, proud and ready to give Lexington and Cincinnati a run for their money.

–Amy Miller

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