World’s Fair Park

Saturday, March 7, 2026 11 am – 3 pm

The event features a pet parade beginning at Willow Ave. and ending at World’s Fair Park, followed by a festival with nearly 100 vendors, food trucks, and a costume contest. AGT members Cheryl Peyton, Kit Sexton, and Jeri Weems will attend to sign and sell their books related to the love of animals and their relationships with humans.

Come out and join the fun!

The Authors Guild of Tennessee Meeting

Thursday, March 5, 2026

AGT will meet at the Faith Lutheran Church in Farragut on Thursday, March 5, from 10:00 to noon. Our special speaker will be AGT member Kaye George. Kaye will present a program on short story writing.

Kaye has published 17 novels and about 60 short stories, some of which have won various awards. She has also compiled several anthologies, some on her own and some with others. A few years ago, she toured with three other short story writers, giving presentations to groups in the Southeast. You can find out more at kayegeorge.com. 

New Release by Cheryl Peyton

Currently, there are 89.7 million pet dogs in the United States: purebred, cross-bred, and multi-bred. All of them trace their ancestry to a now-extinct grey wolf species. Today, all dogs still share 99.9% of their DNA with the modern grey wolf and belong to the same species, Canis lupus.

This book explores how the domestication of the wolf thousands of years ago led to the development of over 300 breeds of dogs worldwide. Why do we have so many breeds? What are their similarities and differences? Central to this study is the thesis that dogs have earned the title “man’s best friend” because of their significant impact on society and the countless individuals whose lives they have enriched.

New Release by Katherine Kirby Smith

(Katherine Parr)

Faith, hope, and betrayal. In 1860, Jane Burnett and her family flee poverty in Scotland to join the Mormon church, taking advantage of its fund to support immigrant settlers in Utah. Sailing the Atlantic, traveling by train to the Midwest, and joining a wagon train, the Burnetts finally arrive in burgeoning Salt Lake City. Jane marries Jim Smith, a successful rancher, and raises their children in the Promised Land. However, the promise is broken by a dark secret held by church leadership. Knowledge of that secret forces Jane and her family to leave Utah for Montana where the Indian Wars once again test her resilience.

New Release by Chota Writers Circle

The Chota Writers Circle is comprised of new authors and members of AGT, including Bill Barbour, Carmen Flores, John Forcum, Kathy Parr, Cheryl Peyton, Chuck Roseberry, Frank Snyder, Jeri Weems, and Curt Young. Their latest anthology of short stories is Winter Tales, 14 short stories set in the winter.

The stories recall memories of the wintertime, including working on the Paramount lot at Christmastime, surviving a storm at sea in Antarctica, family celebrations in winter, sheltering from blizzards in the rural northwest, the future AI influence on Christmas, and imagining how the first wolf approached the cave dweller’s fire to form a bond that would continue for thousands of years.

The book is available on Amazon as a paperback and an eBook.

Kaye George’s Crime Stories Included in Newly Released Anthologies

In Crime Songs, stellar cast of sixteen crime writers brings you their crime stories inspired by Tom Waits, Blondie, The Clash, Lana Del Rey, AC/DC, and more. Bestselling, indie, and transgressive writers combine to give you dark, noir, cozy, and all possibilities in between. Make Crime Songs your number one.

In After Dark, dive into your next sleepless night with this spine-tingling horror/thriller anthology collection by 20 amazingly talented authors!

Stories included featuring: Mayhem, ghost, demons, monsters, bumps in the night, altered reality, fractured reality, fractured psyches, haunted people & places.

New Release by David Johnston

AGT member, David Johnston, has just released his second book of poetry titled More Poems & Musings from Walden Ridge. 

In this follow-up to Poems & Other Musings From Walden Ridge, find yourself lost in our spiritual connection to the forests, mountains, and rivers that make up our beautiful world. Enjoy another peek into life on Walden Ridge and immerse yourself in a place where time moves more slowly, the music of nature is ever-present, and the morning coffee just tastes better.

Authors Guild of Tennessee Presents

Prizes to Winners of LCHS 2024-2025 Writing Contest

AGT president Cheryl Peyton and Writing Contest Co-ordinator Dr. Jerry Morton presented awards to the first and

second place winners at the Lenoir City High School Awards programs on Monday, May 5 at 11:00 a.m. for the Underclassmen, and on Tuesday, May 6 at 6:00 p.m. for the Seniors.  First Place winners received an engraved plaque and a monetary gift. Second Place winners received a Certificate of Achievement.

Underclassmen winners: 

1st pl., 1st period, Abby Holm for “The Teacup Cruiser”

2nd pl., 1st period, Vanessa Singletary for “Apocalypse on Zephyr”

1st pl., 5th period, Vinncent Taylor for “A Desperate Grasp”

2nd pl. 5th period, Xander Brock for “Plague”

Senior winners:

1st pl., 2nd period, Maxx Brown for “Appreciation”

2nd pl., 2nd period, Natali Ortega for “Eternal Summer”

1st pl., 4th period, Isabelle Mayes for “Superstitions — Here Comes the Tide”

2nd pl., 4th period, Ruby Bridges for “Dead Together Forever”

We congratulate all the winners and wish them much success in the future.

Creative Writing Contest

Lenoir City High School

2nd Semester 2023-24

In the second semester of the 2023-4 school year, Angela Crabtree, teacher of the junior/senior writing classes at Lenoir City High School, selected poetry as the literary form for the Creative Writing Contest sponsored by the Authors Guild of Tennessee.

The first- and second-place winners in Ms. Crabtree’s two classes are linked under this notice. Again, the students were not assigned particular subjects but were encouraged to write from their personal experiences and viewpoints. The poems are honest and personal and sometimes reflect harsh realities in each student’s life. They are all well-written and create word pictures of place and time.

The Authors Guild of Tennessee is proud to publish these outstanding literary accomplishments on our website with parental consent for students who are minors.