Announcing the 2026 Core Forum Keynote Speakers!

CHICAGO—Core is proud to announce our Forum 2026 keynote speakers, Nick Laracuente and Frank X Walker!

Join your colleagues at Core Forum 2026, November 18-20, in Louisville, KY, at the Galt House Hotel! Reconnect with friends and make new connections while celebrating the intersection and overlap of the core work we do. Learn more about Forum and register for the main event and its preconferences at www.coreforum.org.   Two full days of presentations, interactive panel discussions, and activities are guaranteed to be both thought-provoking and highly relevant to participants’ current and future career paths. Forum engages the collective expertise of presenters and participants, facilitates enriching conversations, and offers unique learning opportunities. Everyone, including non-Core members, is encouraged to register, bring real-life questions, share experiences, and network to learn new perspectives.  

November 19 Opening Keynote: Nick Laracuente, Lead Archivist, Sazerac

Kentucky’s signature industry permeates all aspects of the state’s economy, history, and identity. Over 2.7 million visitors toured Kentucky’s distilleries in 2025 and there are more barrels aging in Kentucky’s warehouses than both people and horses combined. Bourbon Tourists are drawn to Kentucky through the common thread of a high-quality Kentucky whiskey. But they stay longer, visit more things, and spend more money through a commonality they share with Heritage Tourists: an interest in authentic histories relayed through a unique sense of place.

November 20 Opening Keynote: Frank X Walker, C.R. Lezius Endowed Professorship in the Arts at the University of Kentucky

Multidisciplinary artist, Frank X Walker holds the endowed C.R. Lezius Professorship in the Arts at the University of Kentucky. A Cave Canem Fellow and co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets, he is the author of thirteen collections of poetry including Load In Nine Times, winner of the 2025 Pen/Voelcker Award for Poetry and Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, winner of the NAACP Image Award, and Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, winner of the Lillian Smith Book Award. Voted one of the most creative professors in the south, he is the originator of the word, Affrilachia, and is dedicated to communicating how literacy and the arts impacts our quality of life. The Lannan Poetry Fellowship Award recipient has degrees from the University of Kentucky and Spalding University as well as four honorary doctorates from the University of KY, Centre College, Spalding University, and Transylvania University.

Registration for Core Forum 2026 is open. Learn more about Forum and register for the main event and its preconferences at www.coreforum.org.

About Core

Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures is the national association that advances the profession of librarians and information providers in central roles of leadership and management, collections and technical services, and technology. Our mission is to cultivate and amplify the collective expertise of library workers in core functions through community building, advocacy, and learning. Core is a division of the American Library Association. Follow us on our Blog, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.