I believe there few people on this Earth who look back with a sincere fondness for their adolescence. For any creature, that uncomfortable halocline between childhood and maturity is filled with its own special potion of traps and confusion that lead many of the smartest animals into a frenzy of bad poetry and ill-fitting clothing. For late-bloomers such as myself, the awkward process – oh, let’s call it a dance – of cultivating those first buds of our adult selves is something with which I can still greatly empathize, the last vestiges of a younger me having only recently met their end at my local Goodwill. It is with a kindred spirit, then, that I promote Carmichael’s event with native Kentuckian and young-adult novelist, Alecia Whitaker.
Originally hailing from a small farm in Cynthiana, Kentucky, Alecia Whitaker now daylights as an actress and writer in Manhattan. With performances in the New York City Fringe Festival and as an acting ambassador for the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, Whitaker has made the transition from small town to big city a seemingly easier task than for the protagonist of her new novel, The Queen of Kentucky. Set in a small rural community of Kentucky, the coming-of-age tale follows the adolescent trials of 14-year-old Ricki Jo as she struggles to find her sense of self somewhere between her rural roots and her aspirations of “sophistication”.
Join Whitaker this coming Friday, January 13th at the Carmichael’s Bookstore Frankfort Avenue location for an event launching The Queen of Kentucky. Starting at 7pm, Whitaker will present her book in all glorious and youthful woes and will be available for discussion. Now on sale in hardcover for $17.99, pick up a copy of Queen and kick off your weekend with a grateful look back into the yesteryears of self-discovery.
Carmichael’s Bookstore has two area locations: 1295 Bardstown Road and 2720 Frankfort Avenue
For more information about Alecia Whitaker and The Queen of Kentucky visit the event page or call the Frankfort Avenue store at 502-896-6950
Photo: Courtesy of Carmichael’s Bookstore website www.carmichaelsbookstore.com
