culture
Appalshop releases schedule for free Seedtime on the Cumberland Festival June 16-17
Appalshop, a community media and arts organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich cultural heritage of Central Appalachia, will host its 37th annual Seedtime on the Cumberland Festival on June 16–17, the first since the devastating 2022 summer flood. This free festival featuring music, art, dance, film, local crafters, and food will be held […]
Bearing flowers and tradition, the next generation takes on the duty of Decoration Day
This story was first published in The Daily Yonder on May 21, 2021 and is is republished here under a Creative Commons license. While their friends are cannonballing into the city pool this weekend, my sons will spend the day in an Eastern Kentucky cemetery, placing flowers on the graves of relatives they never knew. […]
A conversation with Silas House, Kentucky’s new poet laureate
LOUISVILLE – Growing up in Eastern Kentucky, author Silas House saw early the power of representation in literature. Lead character John-Boy in the award-winning television series “The Waltons,” for example, was his “hero.” Here was a young country boy who, like House, dreamed of writing. “I didn’t know anybody who wanted to be a writer,” […]
Challenges to books in Kentucky libraries tripled in 2022 amid national jump in attempted bans
Like libraries nationwide, Kentucky libraries experienced a surge in challenges to materials in 2022. Data released by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom last week indicated the number of challenges nearly doubled in the U.S. since 2021, but in Kentucky they tripled. The number of attempts to restrict materials went from just seven […]
How Janis Ian’s ‘life’ came to Berea College
BEREA — On one of their visits, Janis Ian took Berea College President Lyle Roelofs to her studio. There he saw a photo of “a very young” Ian sitting at a grand piano. “Looking over her shoulder at the music she had written and was playing from,” he realized, was Leonard Bernstein, the legendary songwriter […]
Ticket lottery opens Monday for Yo-Yo Ma concert in Mammoth Cave
This article is republished from WKU Public Radio. Monday is the first day of a lottery for tickets to a unique concert inside Mammoth Cave. The Louisville Orchestra and cellist Yo-Yo Ma are performing two concerts at the national park in southern Kentucky on April 29. Those wanting tickets can request up to four tickets […]
America’s biggest museums fail to return Native American human remains
“This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. As the United States pushed Native Americans from their lands to make way for westward expansion throughout the 1800s, museums and the federal government encouraged […]