We are so excited to introduce you to our guest today, Rheonna Nicole, a spoken word artist and poet. 4 years ago she started an all female poetry slam In Louisville KY called Lipstick Wars. She started in a small theater that holds 600. That filled up and the next year she filled another theater that held 1200. This year Lipstick Wars is being held in Whitney Hall at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, a venue that holds more than 2300 people. Rheonna is a woman who will not take no for an answer. She is an example of how persistence and dedication pay off.

Today we talk with guest, Amanda Ciejko, the creator behind the book blog, The Lexington Bookie. She works with horses as part of her day job but being a voracious reader is her hobby. .She even has the horses listening to her audiobooks. Amanda shares with us how a New Year's resolution helped her create her blog, why sometimes she needs a recovery period after finishing a particularly wonderful book, and how publishers recruit readers to help create buzz for their new releases. The world of social media and the internet play a big part in our guest’s story.

And as this is our last episode for the season and we are in the middle of the holidays, we wanted to give you a feel good show. Today we are talking Little Free Libraries. Have you seen the cute little boxes of all colors and sizes on posts where you just open the door and you can take a book? Is there one in your neighborhood? The Little Free Library national movement is 10 years old this year and we wanted to celebrate this anniversary by exploring the movement in our community with our 2 guests this week. Mary Sullivan is a master builder with Metro United Way who spearheaded the Little Free LIbrary movement in underserved neighborhoods of Louisville which now includes 42 little libraries. Joan Dubay is a retired teacher who implemented a Little Free Library at her church and continues to maintain it by adding upwards of 50 books a week to the library.

Our guest this week, Kara Evans, is a transplant to Louisville by way of New Jersey and Atlanta and was looking for a fun way to meet new people. She is a healthcare consultant specializing in technology but her hobbies have always included reading and movies. So she decided to create a book and movie club called Books Going to the Big Screen which can be found on the platform Meetup.com, a site with a plethora of different kinds of groups you can join in any geographical area.

Our guest today is a history buff who has taken his interest in the past to a whole new level. Mick Sullivan is a history educator at the Frazier History Museum and is in charge of their youth and family programs. But he is also the creator of the children’s history podcast, The Past and the Curious, which Common Sense Media lists as one of the best podcasts for kids.

We are now just a few days before Black Friday and the start of the crazy holiday shopping season. We are all book lovers here which means chances are high we will all probably buy a book or related gift for at least 1 person on our shopping lists. Carrie and I plus our guest today, Bri Esposito, are here to help. Bri has been the marketing coordinator for Carmichael Books, Louisville’s oldest independent bookstore, for the last few years and puts together their holiday buying guide.

Today’s guests, mk Eagle and Hannah Elliott, are librarians at Louisville’s new Northeast Regional Library’s branch and also coordinate much of the adult programming system-wide. They started a program 4 years ago called Books and Brews 502, which is just like the LIbrary’s summer reading program for kids but in this case an awesome winter program for adults that can include beer, coffee, and food.

Carrie and I have a very special guest today. Alix Harrow is a Hugo award-winning writer of historical fantasy fiction who also happens to be a fellow Kentuckian. Her debut novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, has been called by Kirkus Reviews a ‘A love letter to imagination, adventure, the written word,’ and NPR books says it is one that should go on your Favorites Shelf. It has been on the Los Angeles Times Bestsellers List. She is a rising star in the burgeoning female revolution taking place in the science fiction and fantasy genres

Our guest today, Amy Miller, is the executive director of Louisville Literary Arts, an organization whose mission is to offer writers support in whatever stage they are in; whether that be before any words are put on a page or to an already published author. And while the Writer’s Block Festival is their biggest event, Louisville Literary Arts provides numerous other programs, many of them free, all year round.

Do you love a good Broadway show? So does Michael Drury, the producing artistic director of Pandora Productions, a theater company solely dedicated to telling the stories of the LGBTQ Plus community. And this passion made him tenacious in pursuing the rights to produce Fun Home, a Broadway musical based on the critically acclaimed 2007 graphic memoir of the same name by Alison Bechdel, who is best known for her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. The play adaptation won the Tony award for Best Musical and Best Original Score. Pandora’s production will be the regional premiere of this play.