In Conversation: Crystal Wilkinson and Wendell Berry - 2018 NEA Big Read/KALD Keynote

This year's KY Arts and Letters Day at The Berry Center featured a very special keynote for our NEA Big Read: Agrarian Literary League of Henry County. Kentucky authors Wendell Berry and Crystal Wilkinson joined in conversation with moderator Debbie Barker to talk about their work, Ernest Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying, growing up in and writing about rural places, and the legacy of black agrarianism in the South. Visit berrycenter.org to subscribe to our newsletter and find us on Facebook and Instagram for more information about events and goings-on at the center. Filmed live on location in New Castle, Kentucky.

[@PaulaKeller_BR549]

I wish I could sit across the table from these two with a slice of pie and hours of their stories. Thank you for the video and for the focus on rural America.

[@marymcreynolds8355]

I've been re-reading several of Berry's works and am now on Fidelity, the five short stories that simply blow me away. He is the finest.

[@Dana9437]

The best!!! I'd love to get up to Kentucky!!!

[@PaulaKeller_BR549]

I cried through every story in Fidelity. All of Mr. Berry's books are amazing but those 5 stories wore me down and lifted me up.

[@kydetoad]

Such a rich conversation .