photo by: Contributed

The headliner for the 2022 Kansas Book Festival is K.J. Dell’Antonia, author of a new novel "In Her Boots" plus "The Chicken Sisters."

A number of Lawrence authors will be among the 60 writers to be featured at the upcoming Kansas Book Festival in Topeka.

The festival focuses on Kansas-connected authors from across the United States, and this year it will host numerous authors from Lawrence, including Randal Jelks, an associate professor of African American studies and American Studies at the University of Kansas, whose most recent book is “Letters to Martin: Meditations in Democracy in Black America”; Jennifer Raff, an assistant professor of anthropology at KU, whose newest book is “Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas”; and Jimmy Beason, a professor of American Indian Studies at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, who has published a book for grade school children called “Native Americans in History.”

Other authors who live in Lawrence or are related to the city are Megan Kaminski (essays titled “Prairie Divination”), former Kansas Poet Laureate Denise Low (poetry titled “Wing”), Tom Pecore Weso (“Native American Stories for Kids”), and Brian Daldorph (nonfiction about teaching writing in prisons: “Words is a Powerful Thing”).

The festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Washburn University’s Mabee Library.

To kick off the event, the winner of the 2022 Hefner Heitz Kansas Book Award, Michael Kleber-Diggs, will read from his book “Worldly Things” at 4 p.m. Friday in Mabee Library. “Worldly Things” is a poetry collection about the hazards and beauties of life as a Black man in contemporary America.

The headliner for the festival is K.J. Dell’Antonia, author of a new novel “In Her Boots” plus “The Chicken Sisters,” who will speak at noon Saturday in Washburn’s Memorial Union.

All events are free and open to the public.

Now in its 11th year, the festival will also include live music, a book-art exhibit, food trucks, exhibitor tents and a children’s activity area.

Every year, the festival also recognizes the 2022 Kansas Notable Books, selected by the Kansas State Library. These awards will be presented at 9 a.m. Saturday by State Librarian Ray Walling and Dr. Ted Daughety, husband of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly.

For the complete festival schedule, see kansasbookfestival.com.