As August 29th gets closer, I wanted to take a moment to share the story behind why we decided to host this brand-new, community-wide event.
For years, the Coffeyville Public Library has hosted two annual book sales—one in the spring and one in the fall. Our spring book sale is usually our heavy hitter because we weed non-circulating items during the winter months, meaning there’s always a fresh stack of reads waiting for every book lover.
While we are endlessly grateful for the incredible support our community shows us, we noticed that our fall book sale hasn’t done as well over the last few years. It made us pause and wonder: Is having two traditional book sales a year getting a little stale?
We decided it was time to try something fresh, exciting, and deeply rooted in our literary community!
🎈 Kids Book Fair: Reading with a Purpose
The kids’ side of our fair isn’t just about finding great stories—it’s a dedicated book sale packed with children’s books, fun bookish trinkets, and delightful goodies!
Best of all, every single purchase directly supports the library. Proceeds raised during the Kids Book Fair fund crucial library initiatives, including:
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Library Improvements: Upgrading our physical spaces, furniture, shelving, and technology.
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Summer Reading Programs: Funding guest performers, craft supplies, STEM camps, and more.
By grabbing a few books or fun trinkets for the young readers in your life, you are directly investing in the future of literacy and community programs right here in Coffeyville!
✍️ Meet Our Featured Local & Regional Authors
I firmly believe local stories deserve a spotlight! Alongside our kids’ book sale, we are honored to host 8 incredibly talented local and regional authors who will be on-site to chat, sign copies, and showcase their work.
Take a look at the amazing lineup joining us this year:
Racquel Sims
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Genre: Fantasy
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About: Racquel Sims lives in Oklahoma where she battles all four seasons in one day and splits her time between writing and teaching. Passionate about portraying strong, diverse characters within fantastical worlds, she weaves stories with epic loves, imperishable friendships, and grand adventures in her work.
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Angela Whitaker
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Genre: Mystery
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About: Angela is right here from Coffeyville and enjoys writing stories that blend mystery, heart, and imagination. When she isn’t writing, Angela works for her local parish and enjoys learning through unusual online courses, reading, and spending time with her family.
Dawn Feltrop
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Genre: Children’s
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About: Dawn Feltrop is an award-winning children’s book author whose stories are inspired by her real backyard chickens. Through playful rhyme, expressive characters, and meaningful social-emotional learning, she creates engaging picture books that encourage children to build courage, perseverance, and self-confidence while fostering a lifelong love of reading.
Michelle Lynn Ross
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Genre: Romance
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About: Michelle Lynn Ross writes small-town romcoms set in Southeast Kansas and Northeast Oklahoma. Her stories center on quirky, relatable characters in the mostly fictional town of Fawn Creek, Kansas. If you love cozy, Hallmark-style romance with local charm, you’ll feel right at home in Fawn Creek.
Cheryl Barker
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Genre: Non-Fiction & Devotional
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About: Cheryl Barker has led readers in reflection and encouraged them for years through the written word. Cheryl has written for various outlets, compilations, and for Blue Mountain Arts greeting cards and gift books. Cheryl lives in Kansas and loves to spend time with family, take photos, indulge in daily doses of chocolate, and especially loves being grandma to two sets of twin grandsons.
Erin Herring
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Genre: Young Adult & Romance
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About: Erin writes fiction in relation to theatre and film with novels for young adults and adults. Her novel, Stage Lights, is aimed towards younger audiences and follows a girl involved in her first stage play, loosely based on Erin’s own theatre experience! Her series, On Set, is a no-spice romance following Allison Clarke’s experience as a movie background extra, the friendships she forms, and the boy she meets along the way.
Jennifer McMurrain
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Genre: Horror & Romance
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About: Jennifer McMurrain has won numerous awards for her short stories and novels, including hitting #1 on the Amazon Best Seller list with Quail Crossings. She has 38 novels and collaborations published under her name and her pen name, Raven Lee. She lives in Oklahoma.
Rachel Koszalka
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Genre: Romance
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About: You may recognize me—I’m the Library Director and the writer of this post! I write under the pen name R.K. Scott and love writing romances and lifting up other writers and authors, which is why I came up with this fun book fair idea: to give a voice to so many talented artists so they can live their dreams of being authors.
💡 Pro-Tip: Be sure to stop by each author’s table to get your books signed! They make wonderful, unique gifts for friends and family.
📌 Event Details at a Glance
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📅 Date: Saturday, August 29, 2026
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⏰ Time: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
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📍 Location: Coffeyville Public Library | 311 W. 10th St., Coffeyville, KS 67337
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🎟️ Admission: Free & open to the public!
Bring your family, invite a friend, and come support local literature and our beloved library. We can’t wait to see you there!