Ken Conklin is a native of Los Angeles, he has lived in Botetourt County, Virginia, for the past seventeen years. He is the author of NORVEL: An American Hero about Botetourt County native Norvel Lee, for which he was presented a 2022 Kegley Preservation Award. The book also inspired the Commonwealth of Virginia to designate a section of US220 to be known as the Norvel LaFallette Ray Lee Memorial Highway. Ken is also the author of The Zen of Ken, a collection of his poems. His essays have been p