The 2024 Festival of Books in the Alleghenies kicked off last Friday at the Cambria County Courthouse. The above video shows the reception held a there before the keynote address in the courthouse rotunda. After being introduced by Terri Sowash Kirby, organizer Hilary Hauck spoke on the need for literacy. When she was done speaking, Matt Kiel of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library spoke on their efforts to improve literacy in poor families.

Jennifer Haigh

After the reception, author Jennifer Haigh gave the keynote address in courtroom 1. She is a native of Barnesboro, PA (now Northern Cambria, Pa). She is a graduate of Bishop Carroll High School in Ebensburg, PA. Her novels set in the town of Bakerton, PA in the fictional county of Saxon. The video above shows her speech where she talks about how the region shaped her writing.

Rhonda Sickles

Last year, when I covered the Festival, I went around to each vendor and gave them a minute to describe their books. This year I went around to each of the 50+ authors to invite them for an interview at our tent. Four of them took me up on the invite.

One of the authors was Rhonda Sickles. She wrote a memoir on her struggle with breast cancer. She has also written children’s books.

Bill Arnold

The next author I interviewed was Bill Arnold. He owned the farm that was on top of the Quecreek coal mine where 9 minors were trapped for 3 days. He has written a book on it and has a museum on his farm. Mostly, we spoke on how the minors are doing now.

Ben Moyer

The next author interviewed was Ben Moyer. He writes about appreciating nature in the area. His book Smoke to See By won the 2024 book of the year award at the Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia. We had a great conversation until being rudely interrupted by the volunteer fire company’s siren.

Judith Redline Coopey

Finally, I interviewed author Judith Redline Coopey. She writes historical fiction in the 19th century centered around the Alleghenies. Though she now lives in Arizona, she comes to the area frequently to research her books.

The 2024 Festival of Books in the Alleghenies was successful before it started pouring. I brought my friend Nick Brisini who won an award for Northern Appalachian Poet Laureate at the Northern Appalachian Folk Festival this year. He gave a poetry reading at the festival of books that above.