Also appearing at the festival this weekend.

Sean Pryor, a Lexington based author who has written dozens of children's books.

Pryor also participates in another program to promote literacy, Kentucky Humanities at the schools.

He tells us while he writes mainly for children, he looks for ways to get parents involved in reading as well.

I have participated in the Kentucky Book Festival for over a decade, and, it's just it's a labor of love for me, to be able to talk with parents and children and, you know, just to get kids into reading or if they are readers, if it's a subject of mine that interest them, like to be able to have those little conversations and autograph books, kids get so excited when they're like, can you sign my book?

I'm like, yeah, sure.

I'm like, wow.

It's so like, that's really, really fun for me.

It's it's the positive energy.

It's the joy.

And everyone is there for the same reason.

For the love of reading, literacy is something that is so important, especially for the current generation of kids in elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools.

I do about 30 author talks a year, across the tri state area.

And what I've noticed is, is that I have teachers and librarians say, hey, it's been difficult to get our boys to read.

I'll come in and I'll do a talk and I'll explain some of like, some how some of our books are made, how they're created, what's the process behind it?

It would inspire us to be creative and like something clicks with some of those kids, and then they want to read, read my books, and then that gets them to read other books.

So it becomes a catalyst.

So like, I just want to be a catalyst for kids because I want them to understand that everything that we enjoy, a story is told, whether it be the book, whether it be a book, a comic book, you know, a novella, children's book, video game, movie, music, somebody had to write that.

And once they get that itch, it changes things a bit.

It no longer becomes a chore when if I talk to parents and they'll say, well, you know, I don't really read to my kids.

And so, like my kids, I want to get them into reading.

But like, reading feels like a chore for me.

And if they're younger kids, they'll say, well, you know, reading to your kids is actually something that's very important, especially at a young at a young age.

And also it's just fun.

They learn that stories are fun and that reading is not a chore.

So like, I'll point to the fact that, like most Gen Z parents are video, you know, they play video games and I'm like, your kids play video games, whether it be on a phone or on a tablet or on a console.

And then like for an example, I'll say, okay, I have I have a book series, superhero series called The Gamer.

And so that incorporates video games and superheroes and so and like in that generation loves, you know, Gen Z parents love those Marvel movies, those DC movies, and so do the kids.

So let's all use that as a bridge.

So it's something that they both enjoy in the hopes of that, the parent will read the book to the child, or the child would then just take the initiative and say, I want to read more of these.

But it is something that like, gets asked a lot about how do we get, you know, how do we get these kids to read?

And it's just you can't force it on them, but you have to show them there's so much there's so many things to read about.

And it's all not just like, you know, static history.

There's so much creativity out there.

They just have to see it and like, and if there's something that they have, like a certain niche, there's a book for it.

Sean and other authors will be at the Kentucky Book Festival that is happening this Saturday, tomorrow at Joseph Beth Booksellers in Lexington, Kentucky.

You can get more information, including the author line up and the schedule, by going online to k y Book festival.org.