Next Water Street Panel Discussion at WKCTC January 30

WKCTC 2018-19 One Book Read

Paducah, KY (01/17/2019) — A second panel discussion about Water Street, West Kentucky Community and Technical College's 2018-19 One Book Read, is set for Wednesday, January 30 at 11 a.m. in the college's Matheson Library.

The discussion, which is free and open to the public, will cover topics from several stories and characters found in Kentucky author Crystal Wilkinson's award-winning book, Water Street. Stories from the book that are the focus for the panel include:

A panel of WKCTC staff and community members will be discussing mental health, addiction, family relationships, and other psychological and counseling issues in the stories of Water Street.

The panelists will be Jana Wilson, Four Rivers Behavioral Health of Paducah counselor; Stacie Aycock, Director, Paducah Lifeline Ministries - Ladies Living Free; Octavia Lawrence, WKCTC Dean of Student Services; Kiesha Curry, community social worker; Melanie Nunn, retired educator and assistant minister at Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church. The panel moderator will be Britton Shurley, WKCTC dean of Humanities, Fine Arts, Business, and Social Sciences.

Water Street, which reveals emotionally raw, multifaceted tales of race, class, gender, mental illness, and interpersonal relationships, was a finalist for both the Orange Prize and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. The book has mature themes that will encourage critical thinking and discussion of complex social issues.

Wilkinson, an award-winning feminist poet, novelist, memoirist, and professor from Indian Creek, Kentucky, is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets Collective. She lives in Lexington and is currently Associate Professor of English in the Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program at the University of Kentucky.

The One Book Read of Water Street has been made possible through a matching grant from Kentucky Humanities in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For more information about the book and Crystal Wilkinson, and to access WKCTC's Discussion Guide for the book, please visit onebookread.com.

Media Attachments

Award-winning Kentucky author Crystal Wilkinson. Her book Water Street is WKCTC's 2018-19 One Book Read. A panel discussion on topics in book to be held January 30.

WKCTC's 2018-19 One Book Read is Water Street by award-winning Kentucky author Crystal Wilkinson. A panel discussion on topics in book to be held January 30.