Van BrantleyVan Brantley
Van Brantley joined the Knoxville Writers' Guild in 1992, one of 25-30 people who met informally once a month to encourage each other to write, and to tell horror stories about editors, agents, and publishers. Occasionally, one of the group brought prepared remarks about a specific subject. This evolved into our formal, monthly program show casing writers and their work.
After serving as the Guild board's treasurer for two years, Brantley knew where all the pieces of paper were buried, so the board hired him as Business Manager. He keeps up with the membership database and files the reports that allow the Guild to keep its non-profit status with the IRS.
Brantley's work experience is technical--engineering research and software development--but when it's time to relax, he reaches for a murder mystery. That's also the genre of his first novel, set in 1925 and based on stories told to him by family members. Brantley has nonfiction plans: a memoir about his death-defying 1964 car wreck and a handbook for the family and friends of people with terminal illness.
He participates in KWG's Experimental Writing and Novel writing groups.
Tennessee Book Award
- Peter Taylor Prize for the Novel