Contemporary Ekphrasis
Author, essayist, and poet Julie Marie Wade will read from and discuss The Mary Years, a coming-of-age nonfiction novella that doubles as a work of prose ekphrasis. The titular "Mary" is Mary Tyler Moore, and this collection traces a 25-year televisual relationship between the author-as-protagonist with Mary Richards, the protagonist of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
Chao Auditorium
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Julie Marie Wade
 Julie Marie Wade was born in Seattle in 1979. She completed a Master of Arts in English at Western Washington University, a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry at the University of Pittsburgh, and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities with a creative nonfiction dissertation at the University of Louisville. Wade is the author of many collections of poetry, prose, and hybrid forms, including Otherwise: Essays (Autumn House, 2023), and the forthcoming collections, Quick Change Artist: Poems (Anhinga Press, 2025), The Latest: 20 Ghazals for 2020 (Harbor Editions, 2025), co-authored with Denise Duhamel, Fisk, by Analogy (CutBank Prose Chapbook Series, 2025), and Other People's Mothers (University Press of Florida, 2025). A finalist for the National Poetry Series and a winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir, Wade is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Florida International University in Miami and makes her home with Angie Griffin and their two cats in Dania Beach.
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Young Adult Literature
From coming-of-age stories to page-turning adventures, YA lit is where young readers find themselves. Join authors Lynn Slaughter and Noel Barton at the KentuckyWomen's Book Festival as theyshare their insights on writing for young readers, crafting unforgettable characters, and tackling important themes that resonate with teens and beyond.
W104
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Lynn Slaughter
 Lynn Slaughter is addicted to the arts, chocolate, and her husband’s cooking. She began her writing career in 1989 as a moonlighting freelancer while she was still active as a professional dancer and dance educator. Her nonfiction publishing credits include: Teen Rape (2004), a young adult nonfiction book in Lucent Books' teen issues series, and over 150 feature articles in magazines and newspapers. She specialized in writing about families and the challenges of parenting tweens and teens. Following her retirement from dance, she began writing fiction and returned to school to earn her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. In addition to Missing Mom (2025), a Claymore finalist, her novels include: While I Danced (2013), an EPIC finalist; It Should Have Been You (2018), a Silver Falchion finalist; Leisha’s Song (2021), a Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards bronze medalist, an Agatha nominee, a Silver Falchion finalist, and recipient of the Imadjinn award for the best young adult novel; Deadly Setup (2022), a Moonbeam Children's Book Awards Silver Medalist, Maincrest Media Book Award Winner, M&M Chanticleer International Awards Finalist, Book Excellence finalist, and Imadjinn Award Finalist; and Missed Cue (2023), recipient of the NYC Big Book Award, Independent Book Award Distinguished Favorite, and a Silver Falchion Top Pick. Lynn’s background includes teaching and counseling students at the Youth Performing Arts School in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as spending several summers serving as the counselor at Kentucky’s Governor’s School for the Arts. She has also served as a volunteer comprehensive sexuality educator for more than two decades and believes that these experiences have given her a lot of empathy and insight into the challenges of growing up, especially for young people who feel marginalized.
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Noel Barton
 Noel Barton spent her teen years in the Bootheel of Missouri. She now resides in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Being a devout Christian, she credits God for her writing ability. Her Whirlwind Series is about life in the Bootheel of Missouri in the 50’s and 60’s. Her fictional stories are based on facts and occurrences that can easily be related to life and events of today. Noel’s books all have a common thread—a love story, a mystery, and many moral and spiritual messages. Readers can’t help but become a part of her stories while remembering the ‘whirlwinds’ of their own lives. We all have whirlwinds, some refresh us while others suck the life out of us. Noel’s stories and characters will live in your heart and mind, long after you’ve read the last page and leave you longing for her next book.
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Character as a Driver of Plot
As F. Scott Fitzgerald observed “Character is plot, plot is character.” At the Kentucky Women’s Book Festival, Ellen Birkett Morris will discuss how developing fully drawn characters with distinct desires offers a way into plot lines that will provide maximum drama and test your character in intriguing ways. She will also read from her award-winning novel Beware the Tall Grass.
E117A
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Ellen Birkett Morris
 Ellen Birkett Morris’s debut novel Beware the Tall Grass won the Donald L. Jordan Award for Literary Excellence, judged by Lan Samantha Chang. She is the author of Lost Girls: Short Stories, winner of the Pencraft Award. Her fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, Antioch Review, Notre Dame Review, and South Carolina Review, among other journals. Morris is a recipient of an Al Smith Fellowship for her fiction from the Kentucky Arts Council.
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