Fiction
Beloved
Toni Morrison
A mother and daughter reckon with the afterlife of slavery in a house haunted by a child’s return.
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY THE DIGITAL LIBRARY
The Lyric
Book Collection
Stories That Shaped Our Culture.
Explore an extraordinary collection of literature, music, history, and artistic achievement. Discover the authors, artists, and visionaries whose stories continue to shape our world.
Discover the voices. Explore the history. Preserve the legacy.
From the shelves01 / From the shelves
Featured books
Fiction
The Birds of Opulence
Crystal Wilkinson
Generations of women in a Kentucky community live with losses and knowledge that are carried through families.
Music history
The Chitlin' Circuit
Preston Lauterbach
Lauterbach follows the promoters, musicians, and venues that sustained Black touring circuits.
Picture book
Firebird
Misty Copeland
A young dancer imagines what practice and encouragement might make possible.
02 / The collection
Find your next chapter
African American Literary Legends
Novels, essays, and poems by writers who reshaped American letters and the language of freedom.
Music, Musicians & the Arts
Follow the sound from church and club to touring stage and recording studio.
Black History & Heritage
Read histories and firsthand accounts of freedom, institution-building, migration, and resistance.
Kentucky & Appalachian Voices
Explore work rooted in Lexington, the Bluegrass, and Black Appalachia.
Black Excellence & Innovation
Meet the people and institutions that advanced science, education, sports, and public life.
Young Readers & Families
Find picture books, graphic stories, and chapter books to read aloud or explore independently.
Art, Culture & Creative Expression
Explore the work of dancers, playwrights, artists, and the communities that make their art possible.
Biographies & Untold Stories
Follow lives in context through biographies, memoirs, and oral histories.
03 / The Lyric Curator’s Collection
Black Appalachian voices
Poems, recipes, and stories rooted in Kentucky and the places writers carry with them.
Explore the curator’s collection
04 / Close to home
Kentucky & Bluegrass authors
Read the writers whose work brings Lexington, Kentucky, and Black Appalachia into view.
05 / Read together
The Lyric Reading Room
Find a starting point for classrooms, families, book clubs, and lifelong readers.
Reading notes / 01
A story for the stage
A family reading list about movement, imagination, and finding a place in the arts.
Read A story for the stageReading notes / 02
Freedom and the right to read
For teachers and students studying emancipation, literacy, and education.
Read Freedom and the right to read
Reading notes / 03
Where we belong
A book club conversation about home, family, migration, and memory.
Read Where we belong06 / Beyond the page
Continue the story
Follow the Lyric’s exhibitions into books about Black schools, Bluegrass communities, performance, and musical life.