Anne Kniggendorf

Feb 28, 2025 | kcur.org | Anne Kniggendorf

The author of a new book about women on the Santa Fe Trail, which starts in Kansas City and is considered America’s first great international commercial highway, is well aware of how people often think of women who made the journey: fearful, sun-bonneted white women in wagon trains, reluctantly leaving behind their comfortable lives on the East Coast.

Feb 11, 2025 | kansascity.com | Anne Kniggendorf

Kaite Stover said she loves the idea of strangers from across the metro coming together to talk about a book - she's been into it since the 1990s when she first learned about The Star's FYI Book Club. "The only common denominator participants had was the book," she said. "It was serendipitous reading."First, The Star organized the meetings. Later, The Star and the Kansas City Public Library collaborated. Now, the two are relaunching the FYI Book Club as the KC Pop-Up Book Group.

Jan 7, 2025 | kcstudio.org | Anne Kniggendorf

Gentry Mullen has wanted to paint since he was 14 years old. Now, after 35 years in graphic design, he’s launching that career. “The last arc of my professional life,” he calls it. Mullen says the point of his work, thus far, has not been to satisfy his own creativity, but to communicate messages to his company’s customers effectively. But, he says, “My creative self, that is what you’re seeing in this room.

Dec 7, 2024 | kansascity.com | Anne Kniggendorf

On a scale of low commitment to high commitment, checking out a library book is certainly at the low end, while buying a book as a gift can bring out the commitment-phobe in anyone. Fear not. Whether you're whiling away a long winter's night with an e-reader or pacing through an independent bookstore figuring out what to buy your brother-in-law, these book recommendations from Kansas City Public Library staff will clue you in on some already-beloved titles.

Nov 8, 2024 | kansascitymag.com | Anne Kniggendorf

Men aren’t the only nasty villains. A lot of novelists and screenwriters let you think they are, but not Kansas City native Gillian Flynn. She writes about women who are cruel, mean or—at their best—a mess. Never has the fairer half of the population felt so seen. This month, Nov. 21, Flynn comes to Kansas City to take the stage at the annual Writers for Readers fundraiser, a conversation and banquet co-hosted by the Kansas City Public Library and the University of Missouri–Kansas City.