Crystal Wilkinson.

You may have noticed recently that everyone is talking about a new book by Unbound alum Crystal Wilkinson, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts., a lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians.

Years ago, when O. Henry Prize-winning Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother’s presence. She soon realized that she was not the only cook in her kitchen; there were her ancestors, too, stirring, measuring, and braising alongside her. These are her kitchen ghosts, five generations of Black women who settled in Appalachia and made a life, a legacy, and a cuisine. An expert cook, Wilkinson shares nearly forty family recipes rooted deep in the past and full of flavor, brought to vivid life through stunning photography. The book honors the mothers who came before, the land that provided for generations of her family, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia.

As US Poet Laureate Ada Limón says, this book is “an ode to food, yes, but it’s also a brilliant ode to ancestors, to history, to survival.”

We can’t wait to welcome Crystal back to Columbia to hear her talk about this beautiful new book!

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. She is also the author of Perfect Black, a collection of poems, and three works of fiction—The Birds of Opulence , Water Street and Blackberries, Blackberries. She served as poet laureate of Kentucky from 21-23 and 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. She has received recognition from the Yaddo Foundation, Hedgebrook, The Vermont Studio Center for the Arts, The Hermitage Foundation and others. Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including most recently in  The Atlantic, The Kenyon Review, STORY, Agni Literary Journal, Emergence, Oxford American and Southern Cultures. She currently serves as the Bush-Holbrook Endowed Professor at the University of Kentucky where she teaches creative writing.