The May 4 meeting of the Knoxville Writers Guild will feature a program by Terry Shaw and Brad Lifford on their new book, East Tennessee Garden Stories: Sharing Knowledge, Celebrating Heritage, and Building Community. They are cofounders of Howling Hills Publishing, a new press that publishes nonfiction books from Greater Appalachia. The pair will be joined by photographer Kelly Norrell and poet Linda Parsons. The speakers will share their perspectives on Garden Stories.

Shaw and Lifford have decades of experience as newspaper and magazine journalists. Shaw, a past Guild president, is also a published novelist. Norrell strives to capture the human spirit in her photography. Her favorite images include first-graders releasing butterflies they raised from eggs and a young woman who grew up in poverty posing in front of the assisted living center where she became director. Parsons, also an editor, essayist, and playwright, will release Valediction, her sixth collection, in June.