EVPL announces author lineup for SPEAK 2027: A Literary Arts Experience
EVPL’s SPEAK 2027 series will feature four bestselling and award-winning authors who will discuss their body of work and related cultural perspectives. SPEAK, an Arts at EVPL signature event, furthers EVPL’s vision of communities united through shared exploration and understanding.
More information about each author, as well as additional event details, will be available soon. Due to the generosity of the EVPL Foundation, all SPEAK events are free to attend.
- Crystal Wilkinson | Poet & Author | Saturday, Mar. 13
- Pierce Brown | Science Fiction Author | Thursday, Apr. 22
- Kelsey Timmerman | Journalist & Author | Thursday, Jun. 24
- Edward Lee | Chef & TV Host | Tuesday, Oct. 19
Crystal Wilkinson | Saturday, Mar. 13
Crystal Wilkinson, University of Kentucky creative writing professor and recent Kentucky Poet Laureate, will begin the series on Saturday, March 13. Crystal Wilkinson, a recent fellowship recipient of the Academy of American Poets, is the award-winning author of Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, a culinary memoir, Perfect Black, a collection of poems and prose, and three works of fiction—The Birds of Opulence, Water Street, and Blackberries, Blackberries.
She was inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame in 2025. Crystal is the recipient of an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry, an O. Henry Prize, a USA Artists Fellowship, and an Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. Named Kentucky’s Poet Laureate from 2021 to 2023, she has received recognition from the Yaddo Foundation, Hedgebrook, The Vermont Studio Center for the Arts, The Hermitage Foundation and others.
Pierce Brown | Thursday, Apr. 22
On Thursday, April 22, #1 New York Times bestselling author Pierce Brown will speak about his dystopian science fiction and space opera series, Red Rising. Pierce Brown is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Rising, Golden Son, Morning Star, Iron Gold, Dark Age, and Light Bringer, a dystopian science fiction and space opera series.
Red Rising tells the story of Darrow, a member of a low-mining Red caste working to make the surface of Mars livable for future generations. He and other Reds willingly spend their lives digging underground, finding purpose in their sacrifice, but upon discovering that humanity reached the surface generations earlier, Darrow realizes the Reds are slaves to a decadent ruling class.
Paramount Pictures has recently purchased film rights to Red Rising, to be directed by Francis Lawrence, director of The Hunger Games film franchise, and written by Justin Rhodes, who previously wrote Terminator: Dark Fate and contributed to the adaptation for BioShock.
Published in 2014, Red Rising received widespread positive reviews, and every book in the series has become a New York Times bestseller. He has also written a prequel comic book series, Red Rising: Sons of Ares. His work has been published in more than 30 languages.
Kelsey Timmerman | Thursday, Jun. 24
Kelsey Timmerman will return to Evansville on Thursday, June 24. Timmerman is a journalist, speaker, and the New York Times bestselling author of Regenerating Earth, Where Am I Wearing?, Where Am I Eating?, and Where Am I Giving?. His immersive storytelling takes readers, audiences, and listeners to the people and places behind the products they consume, exploring global issues through deeply human experiences.
In his latest book, Regenerating Earth: Farmers Working with Nature to Feed Our Future, published in June 2025, he embarked on what he described as his most personal and transformative journey yet, traveling across the U.S. and five continents over five years, meeting farmers and activists embracing regenerative practices.
Timmerman comes from a long lineage of farmers and lives in rural Indiana, where his neighbors are fields of monoculture corn and the farmers who tend them. In examining the damage that modern industrial agriculture inflicts on the health of our land, ourselves, and our communities, he was determined to find a better way forward through an understanding of the regenerative agriculture movement.
Edward Lee | Tuesday, Oct. 19
Chef Edward Lee will close the series on Tuesday, October 19. He is the Chef/Owner of 610 Magnolia in Louisville and is also the Co-Founder and Chief Impact Officer for The LEE Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to diversity and equality in the restaurant industry. During the pandemic, The LEE Initiative distributed over 2 million meals, invested $1.5 million in small farms, and gave over $1 million in grants to Black-owned food businesses across the country.
Chef Lee was the recipient of the 2019 James Beard Foundation Award for his book, Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting Pot Cuisine. Nominated for a Daytime Emmy for his role as Outstanding Culinary Host of the Emmy-winning series The Mind of a Chef on PBS, he has also hosted and written a feature documentary called Fermented. In his most recent book, Bourbon Land: A Spirited Love Letter to My Old Kentucky Whiskey, Edward examines his favorite libation—bourbon—with recipes, essays, history, profiles, distillery tours, and more.
