A native-born Kentuckian, Kim Michele Richardson is the New York Times, L.A. Times, USA Today bestselling author who has written six novels, a memoir and most recently, two children’s picture books. The works have been published in more than 16 languages. Her novel The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is taught widely in high schools and college classrooms and has been adopted as a Common Read selection by states, cities, and colleges across the country and abroad. Kim Michele was inducted into the Kentucky Women’s Remembers Exhibit in 2025 by Gov. Andy Beshear for her contributions to Kentucky. She lives with her family in Kentucky and is the founder of Shy Rabbit, a writers residency, and a literacy initiative Courthouses Reading Across Kentucky & Beyond.

About the Writing

Kentucky is my home and these are my people. As a native-born Kentuckian, all my books are set in my home state, and it’s always humbling and a privilege when you let me share their stories with you. 

Kentucky, especially eastern Kentucky, a land rich in folklore and steeped in tradition, is one of the most beautiful places in the world. The people are intelligent, proud and passionate, oftentimes misunderstood, sometimes persecuted, but in their complicated lives and stories you’ll find a constant. You'll find dignity.

I love exploring my birthplace in my writings; the beautiful, brutal and mysterious Kentucky land and its peopIe. And I impart my novels with my fierce love for the land, showcase its intriguing people, rich history, and forgotten song of the region, exploring historical social injustices and the unusual and cherished traditions, myths and legends of Kentucky. Because I grew up in poverty, spending my first decade in a rural Kentucky orphanage, and going on to endure homelessness as a teen and other sufferings; it’s not hard for me to feel pain deeply and understand the sufferings of others. More than anything, I write human stories set in my unique landscape. Knowing even a small piece of this world, the earth, the sky, the plants, the people & their history, and the very air and existence—helps all of us understand the sufferings and joys of others—and ourselves.  

I visited the backwoods and rural areas of Western Kentucky in Liar’s Bench with a town's bench made from the 100-year-old gallows of a female slave. Then in GodPretty I explored Appalachia, its darkly coal rich mountains and the hardscrabble and oppressed women of Eastern Kentucky in this Coalminer's Daughter meets Winter's Bone tale. Spanning the 30s to present-day, The Sisters of Glass Ferry, is a haunting tale of love and loss, redemption and atonement, and the dark secrets surrounding a 1952 prom night when two teens go missing in rural Kentucky.

My novel, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, delves into the Pack Horse Library Project of 1935 and the factual blue people of eastern Kentucky.  It’s a fascinating story, one I feel privileged to write—a tale of tribute to my Kentucky sisters, the fearsome librarians who traveled on horseback and mule to provide books to the isolated communities in Kentucky.

My latest is the sequel and stand-alone to Book Woman, The Book Woman’s Daughter. Coming spring 2026 is The Mountains We Call Home, and my second children’s picture book in late August, My Kentucky Moonlight School. All earnings from my memoir, The Unbreakable Child are donated to survivors and the underserved.

I’m married to an amazingly talented woodturner, and have two energetic, mountain cur brindles we adopted; one from Houston’s Hurricane Harvey and another during Covid 19 while on the backroads of Tennessee. Occasionally, I like to dabble in photography, and in the past, I’ve earned national recognition for my work.

One of my relatives who is a cousin, was the prolific and award-winning Kentucky author, celebrated humorist and columnist, Irvin S. Cobb. A few of my longtime favorite Kentucky authors who wrote unforgettable masterpieces are Harriet Simpson Arnow, Emily Bingham, Cassie Chambers, John Fox Jr., Sue Grafton, Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice, Gwyn Hyman Rubio, Effie Waller Smith, Jesse Stuart, Alex Taylor and Walter Tevis. Each one brings the pages to life with rich, evocative landscapes, beautifully told stories and highly skilled prose.

Gov. Andy Beshear with Artist Yanya Yang for kim michele’s portrait inspired by her 1st author photograph Now in the 2025 Kentucky Women’s Remembered Exhibit displayed in the Kentucky State Capitol