Authors Guild of Tennessee will meet on Oct. 3

at the Faith Lutheran Church in Farragut

Social time from 10:30 a.m., the business meeting from 11:00 to noon.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Our speaker will be award-winning novelist Melanie Hutsell. Her topic is “Keeping the Writing Drive Alive.” Melanie will offer some tips–mostly reminders, maybe, to help when we are struggling to find time to write.

Melanie is the author of the novels The Dead Shall Rise and The Book of  Susan which received an Award of Merit in the 2023 Christianity Today Book Awards and was highlighted by the Southern Bookseller Review. Her work has also appeared in The Sow’s Ear, The Madison Review, Appalachian Heritage (Review), Still: The Journal, and elsewhere. She was named a Featured Author for Knoxville’s 2019 National Authors Day celebration.

Visitors are welcome.

Tellico Village Library Event

Bill Barbour will speak on How to Write a Novel, Oct. 15, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

AGT member Bill Barbour will present the steps to writing a novel from conception of a story arc, through creating characters, to the story’s conclusion.

Bill has written two highly-rated books that are set in Germany during and just after WWII. The first is The Wind, which is the story of Bill’s friend Arnald who was born in Germany in 1927, raised by an American-born great aunt, and conscripted into Hitler’s army, which was contrary to his Western ideology. His second book, The Rain, follows Horst Bergmann, Arnald’s best friend in the army, who stayed in Germany and faced the uncertainties of a divided Germany after the War.

Call the library at (865) 458-5199 to reserve your seat.

A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

In “Hope Is the Thing” Poet Danita Dodson reflects on the loss of her father.

Danita Dodson’s most recent collection of poetry, Between Gone and Everlasting, explores the many facets of grief after the loss of a parent. Dodson focuses on the death of her father and discusses grief and its impact across all facets of her life. The voice of the collection is childlike and hopeful, conveying a reverence for the dead and the process of dying and grieving, as well as a love for the natural beauty of the world and the signs of life below the surface. Dodson’s collection captivates with its focused narrative arc, using the extended theme of grief to tell a story of one man’s life and one family’s reaction to the loss of that life.

Go to this link to read Danita’s interview on this online publication:  https://chapter16.org/hope-is-the-thing/

Brenda Sellers  gives talk in Iceland

Brenda Sellers had her first international speaking/book signing in Iceland yesterday, July 6, in an antikvariat (antique booksellers’ shop). The announcement in the local media was in both English and Icelandic. Brenda reports that the attendees were very receptive to her talk about her book, You Slept Where?, particularly her story about staying in the Ice Hotel in Iceland.

New Retail Location

IGA Store in Townsend

The Townsend IGA store is now selling our books. We have a good number of titles for customers to choose from.

Townsend IGA is a locally owned grocery store serving the Townsend community. They buy local grocery items and proudly support the local farmers.

Hours are: Mon. through Sun. 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“Trails of Wrathful Waters” by David Curran

now available in the online journal AppalachiaBare

This is a delightful chapter from the author’s book Hiking for Fun and Pain.  Leaving his comfort zone of sylvan serenity, Dave agrees to join his fearless brother-in-law in white-water rafting on the Ocoee River, followed by calmly rowing down the Missouri, then hopping in a funyak to take on the turbulent Nolichucky River.  The result is a tale of high adventure laced with humor. To read this entertaining account, go to AppalachiaBare, click on highwaysandbyways, then on Wanderings — recent posts.

“Daisy”

                       by Russ Fine

a short story on the online journal Appalachia Bare

This is the heartwarming story of a small brown dog who was adopted by a lonely man at the request of its homeless owner. The good deed turns into a blessing for the new owner whose life is enriched by the company of this loving animal.

Gene Berryhill

New Member of Authors Guild of Tennessee

G. Gene Berryhill, Ph.D., Fulbright scholar, has been a professor of art and art history for over 30 years at universities in this country, including in California, Hawaii, New York, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, as well as at universities abroad in Germany, Bulgaria, and China.

Gene’s first book, Ripples from the Holler, was published in 2023. As Historical Fiction, Gene has drawn on the extraordinary adventures of her ancestors, who were part Cherokee, as they survived trials and hardships from the early 1800s to the early 1900s out West and in Tennessee. The stories weave their activities with those of Tennessee hill folk, the effects of the Great Depression in the area, Civil War tragedies, and Indian battles that raged across the plains and woodlands.

As Gene explains on her back book cover, “It was a leap of faith from city life and extensive travel to focus on her love for American history, Tennessee, country living, and her kin—past and present.”

Today, Gene lives in Gallatin and Monroe, Tennessee, with her husband Bob.

Between Gone and Everlasting

Danita Dodson’s New Poetry Book

Published May 6, 2024

Danita Dodson writes with emotive transparency about loss, the passing of generations, and the love of a father whose memory becomes a source of light after his death. Between Gone and Everlasting pans the perimeters of mourning with a phenomenal scope: heartrending reflections on grief, tender odes of remembrance, stunning elegies about Appalachia’s fading past, and stirring psalms of spiritual awakening amid loss.

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.

Creative Writing Contest

Lenoir City High School

1^st Semester 2023-24

In the first 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. The students were not assigned particular subjects or themes but were encouraged to write from their personal experiences and viewpoints. As you will see, the poems are honest and personal, and sometimes reflect harsh realities in each student’s unique perspective on life. They are all well-written and skillfully create word pictures of place and time.

The Authors Guild of Tennessee is proud to publish these outstanding literary accomplishments on our website.

Daddy’s Little Girl – Kara Gresham

A Broken Soul – Abner Alvarado

The Mother – Reagan Griffith

Home – Christopher Lopez