What's New with the Knoxville Writers' Guild?

Summer Workshops - July 12-15 and 19-23

Nashville songwriter Steve Leslie, columnist Sam Venable and poet Linda Parsons Marion will be among the presenters at this year's Knoxville Writers' Guild Summer Workshops. Leslie, who wrote the title cut to Ricky Skagg's Grammy winning album "Brand New Strings," has been a professional songwriter for 18 years. His work has been recorded by Kenny Rogers, George Straight, Darryl Worley and many others. Venable, an award-winning writer for the Knoxville News Sentinel, is author of 10 books, including his latest, "Someday I May Find Honest Work: A Newspaper Humorist's Life." Parsons Marion, former poetry editor of Now & Then magazine, is the author of Home Fires. Her work has frequently appeared in national journals. She is also an editor at the University of Tennessee.

Co-sponsored by the English Department at Pellissippi State, the two- and three-hour courses will be held July 12-15 and 19-23. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details. The following are confirmed speakers:

KB Ballentine, poetry
Grant Fetters, public speaking
Alex Gabbard, travel writing
Steve Leslie, songwriting
Kali Meister, playwriting and erotica
Linda Parsons Marion, poetry
Kelly Norrel, promotional writing
Sam Venable, humor writing
Marianne Worthington, Appalachian nonfiction writing (or poetry)

Updates will be posted soon.

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 extended deadline is April 30 for statewide writing contests from the Knoxville Writers’ Guild.

Click here on Contests for general guidelines and submission fees.

The Guild honors the 2009 Contest winners at the October 1 program. Winners will read from their entries beginning at 7:00pm. Creative Non-fiction, Leslie Garrett Fiction, Libba Moore Gray Poetry, and the Young Writers' Poetry prize.

Writing Tips...updated with new tips from our newest Board of Directors' members. Click here.

Meet the Guild's 8th anthology! Outscape: Writings on Fences and Frontiers, (2008) edited by Jessie Janeshek and Jesse Graves.

Buy your copy online now, or at area book sellers. .

"... I am struck by the range of voices here, the details of memory, the visionary leaps; but I am also struck by what these voices have in common....Such a perspective allows us to see our own lives, our histories, and the paths we’ve taken with a measure of honesty. That’s exactly what we ask of literature, and what literature asks, in turn, of us—to be reminded of what we’ve always known.
—Maurice Manning, author of A Companion for Owls and Bucolics

"Outscape is a beautiful collection, bursting at the seams with some of the best fiction, poetry, and essays of the region....this is an anthology that showcases the incredible depth of talent we have in this lyrical place while offering pieces that are sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always thought-provoking."
—Silas House, author of A Parchment of Leaves and The Coal Tattoo

Add your blog! If you are a Guild member who writes a blog, share it with us, and we'll add it to our Members' Websites & Blogs page.f Nashville

--Speaker' Bureau: Speakers selected to represent the Knoxville Writers Guild are not paid by the Guild, but have agreed to donate 10% of all honoraria, compensation and book sales to the KWG. Search the list of speakers or select a particular category such as Poetry Nonfiction, Songwriting, or Regional Writing and choose a writer with expertise in that category. More...

Listen to an audio file from the July 2007 Open Mic program. Thanks to Gene Brennan for his efforts to deliver and to Guild members reading from their own writings! Right-click here to download to your desktop.

Check out the events at the library!  For more information, contact Nelda Hill, Reference Department, Knox County Public Library System, 865-215-8723.

Writers in the Library invites you to a lively and diverse series of Monday night readings by fine writers of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Sponsored by UT Library Friends and the UT Creative Writing Program. For more information, contact R. B. Morris, 974-3004

John Reaves polls writers on the how-to books that help them most.

Shop Online with Amazon.com Bookstore ! See our featured books: some written by members of the Guild and some pertaining to the Guild's mission or to our region.  Explore links to find great books, videos, CD ROM's, toys, and more. The Guild will receive 5-15% of the selling price of each item you buy through the Guild web site. These funds will be used to help the Guild reach its goals.