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 Knoxville Writers' Guild offers seminar on memoir writing: March 19
Poet and essayist Marianne Worthington will teach "Seminar in Memoir," from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 19 at the Redeemer Church of Knoxville, 1642 Highland Ave. Cost is $25 for members of the Knoxville Writers Guild; $30 for nonmembers.
"The popularity of memoir writing is easily confirmed by looking at any best seller list," Worthington said. "Successful memoirists make the art and craft of personal narrative look effortless, but most writers know it is excruciating to write our own stories."
The workshop will provide practical writing strategies for crafting personal narrative, including theme, persona, perspective, and scene. Readings from memoirs and writing exercises will help participants get started in the art of reflection and the grand task of what William Zinsser called "beating back the past with grace and humor and with the power of language."
Worthington is editor of Motif 1: Writing By Ear, An Anthology of Writings About Music (2009) and Motif 2: Come What May, An Anthology of Writings About Chance (2010) for MotesBooks in Louisville, Ky. She is co-founder and poetry editor for the online literary journal Still: The Journal and poetry editor for Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine.
The Knoxville native is associate professor of communication and journalism at University of the Cumberlands, Williamsburg, Ky. Her essays, reviews, poetry and feature articles have been published widely and anthologized most recently in Chopin with Cherries, Women.Period, and Cornbread Nation 5. She received the Berea College Appalachian Music Fellowship for 2009, the Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council in 2008, an Individual Artist Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women in 2007, and the Denny C. Plattner Award for Nonfiction in 2007.
To register, go to www.knoxvillewritersguild.orgor send your check to KWG Workshops, P.O. Box 10326, Knoxville TN 37939-0326.
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POETRY READINGS BY CONNIE JORDAN GREEN AND DEBORAH SCAPEROTH
The Writing Women series will feature poetry readings by Connie Jordan Green and Deborah Scaperoth on Monday, March 21, at 7 p.m., in the Hodges Library (Room 258, the Mary E. Greer Room), University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
Connie Jordan Green's latest book of poems is Regret Comes to Tea, Finishing Line Press. Her two award-winning novels for young people, The War at Home and Emmy
, were published first by MacMillan and are now available through Tellico Books. Connie Jordan Green was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 by the East Tennessee Literary Hall of Fame.
Deborah Scaperoth
's new collection of poetry is Heart Language, also from Finishing Line Press. She has published in Yemassee and New Millennium Writings, among others. She teaches in the English Department at UT, Knoxville and is the managing editor of Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal.
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mkallet@utk.edu).For further information, contact Marilyn Kallet, Director, UT Creative Writing Program (865-974-6947 or |
April 7: Poet Bill Brown
By Austin Kodra
Prolific poet Bill Brown
will read from his recent poetry collections and discuss several of his current projects at the April 7 meeting of the Knoxville Writers' Guild. Bill will also field questions about his work and the poetic process.
The meeting, which will be open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. at the Laurel Theater, located at the corner of Laurel Avenue and 16th Street (in Fort Sanders). A $1 donation is requested at the door. The building is handicapped accessible.
Brown, who spent his childhood in Dyersburg, TN, is a widely published author, having penned three poetry chapbooks, five full-length collections and a textbook. In 1995, The National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts named him The Distinguished Teacher in the Arts, and he has been a Scholar in Poetry at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, a Fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and a two-time recipient of fellowships in poetry from the Tennessee Arts Commission.
His most recent titles, The News Inside (2010) and Late Winter (2007), were both released by Iris Press, which is based in Oak Ridge, TN. He has received high praise from a wide spectrum of outside voices. Poet Mark Jarman calls Brown "the most humane of poets," stating, "He is a poet with perfect pitch for the human condition today." North Carolina Poet Laureate Cathy Smith Bowers remarks of Late Winter, "Late Winter
left this reader longing for more-much more of Bill Brown's wisdom, heart, talent, and undeniable poetic skill."
In addition to his collections, Brown's poetry has also appeared in numerous acclaimed literary journals, such as Prairie Schooner, North American Review, The Literary Review, Westbranch, Southern Poetry Review, Tar River Poetry, Asheville Poetry Review, Atlanta Review, Connecticut Review, and Smartish Pace.
Beyond publishing poetry, Bill has made significant contributions to various educational communities. Brown directed the writing program at Hume-Fogg Academic High School in Nashville from 1983-2003. In 1999, he wrote and co-produced the Instructional Television Series, Student Centered Learning, for Nashville Public Television. He was also a part-time lecturer at Vanderbilt University, a position from which he recently retired.
Bill holds a B.A. in history from Bethel College and graduate degrees in English from George Peabody College and The Bread Loaf School of English of Middlebury College. He lives with his wife, Suzanne, and a tribe of cats in the hills north of Nashville.
The Knoxville Writers' Guild is excited to welcome poet Bill Brown for his April appearance, during which he will read from and discuss his previous and upcoming works.
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 Poet Bill Brown Offers Writing Workshop
Noted Tennessee poet Bill Brown will offer an all-day writing workshop on Saturday, April 9 at the Redeemer Church in Knoxville, 1642 Highland Ave. The event will be sponsored by the Knoxville Writers' Guild. Cost will be $70 for Guild members and $80 for non-members. Click here to register and pay by credit card or PayPal.
"My best gift to participants is seeing them leave my workshop with beginnings and first drafts of important poems and short prose pieces," Brown said. "Please come to write and share. I will present writing ideas and models, and we will fast write strategies designed to place you in life experiences, real or imagined."
Brown is the author of three chapbooks, a textbook and five collections of poetry, including The News Inside (Iris Press 2010), Late Winter (Iris Press 2008) and Tatters (March Street Press 2007). His poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, North American Review, The Literary Review, Westbranch, Southern Poetry Review, and many other journals.
He holds a B.A. in history from Bethel College and graduate Degrees in English from George Peabody College and The Bread Loaf School of English of Middlebury College. Brown recently retired as a part-time lecturer at Vanderbilt University. He lives with his wife, Suzanne, and a tribe of cats in the hills north of Nashville.
Brown stresses that this will be a hands-on workshop: "We can spend some time discussing issues related to shaping a draft, what journal editors are looking for and submission for publication. But my focus is the joy of creating, finding, turning over the rocks of experience and looking underneath-writing and sharing writing, not just talking about writing"
The seminar will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Lunch will be provided. To register, click here. For questions, email KWG President Terry Shaw at tshaw05@comcast.net. |
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Yes! The Guild Plans More Workshops - Once a Month!
May 7: Writing Dialogue (w/Lisa Soland, Pamela Schoenewaldt, Shannon Burke and Russell Schaumberg, moderated by Terry Shaw) |
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 2011 Guild Contest adds new Genres: Novel Excerpts, Flash Fiction and Blog Writing!
The Knoxville Writers' Guild sponsors the following annual literary contests with more than $1,200 in prizes for poetry, fiction, and essays. Enter as many of these contests as you like: The newly extended deadline is midnight April 30 for these writing contests from the Knoxville Writers' Guild. Previous contest winners can be viewed on the Career Achievement Award page for each year.
The following contests will share a new deadline of midnight April 30.
Poetry, in honor of Libba Moore Gray
Fiction, in honor of Leslie Garrett
Young Writers' Prize in Poetry
Creative Nonfiction
Novel Excerpts
Flash Fiction
Blog Writing
For guidelines, visit http://www.knoxvillewritersguild.org/contests.htm |
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New Writing Groups!
We're forming several new writing groups:
If there's a need for more, we'll form them. Just let us know. |
*Is your Guild membership current? 
Life gets busy, and sometimes we forget. Please update your Guild membership and rejoin your Knoxville-area circle of writers, publishers, poets, and performers. To renew, please visit http://www.knoxvillewritersguild.org/orderpaypal.htmIf you are unsure about your membership status, please contact the Guild's Membership Coordinator. Click here. |
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Disclaimer: As a service to members, KWG shares announcements of literary competitions and publishing opportunities. If you have any questions about the listings, please contact the sponsor. Unless specifically noted, these are not KWG-sponsored projects.
The Knoxville Writers' Guild meets the first Thursday of each month at the Laurel Theatre, 16 St. and Laurel Ave., Knoxville, TN at 7:00pm. For more information about the Guild, visit www.knoxvillewritersguild.org.
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