Come to the meetings! 2010 Bookmark and Share

Each meeting involves a brief summary of KWG activities followed by a program that includes noted individuals, both local and national, from the writing and publishing fields. Speakers and programs include:

November: Michael Knight

October: Silas House

September: Jeff Adam Gordon. Guild board member and publicity coordinator Jeff Gordon is a noted film historian whose work has appeared in Classic Images, Films of the Golden Age, Focus on Film, and numerous other entertainment-oriented publications. In 1984 he formed Jagarts, a retail business and rental archive dealing with the history of American movies through graphic art, photography and publicity. Jeff had been at the helm of a cinema society in New York City for seven years. Since 2004 he has been running a film group in Knoxville, where he has been living for seven years.

Jeff has been passionate about vintage movies and filmmaking since childhood. He earned degrees in Film Production and Cinema Studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. At NYU Jeff was mentored by William K. Everson, the dean of film historians, who encouraged him to write about movies – which Jeff will always appreciate.

Jeff's book Foxy Lady, a biography about Lynn Bari, debuted in May 2010.

August: Russell Schaumburg be focusing on his film Tennessee at the Thursday, August 5 meeting of the Knoxville Writers' Guild. The Knoxville resident will be showing a portion of the 2009 drama during the course of his Guild appearance. "I will likely bring copies of the shooting script as well," says Schaumburg, who plans to discuss some of the major differences between the script and the film.

Tennessee marked Russell Schaumberg's debut as a feature-film screenwriter. Produced by Lee Daniels (Precious), the picture had premiered at New York's prestigious Tribeca Film Festival. Audiences there saw an affecting road movie about two brothers (Adam Rothenberg and Ethan Peck) who made a pressing journey from New Mexico to East Tennessee, in the hopes of locating their estranged father for a life-saving gesture. Mariah Carey portrayed the aspiring singer who joined the young men on their trek eastward.

The scenarist looks forward to leading a lively discussion at the August Writers Guild meeting. It will be an open forum for people to ask questions about the film [Tennessee] or writing in general even the business of it all. But, really; whatever anyone wants to know, I will try to enlighten.

July: Open mic

June: Accomplished playwright Lisa Soland will be addressing the theme of “Living the Life of a Working Writer” at the Thursday, June 3 meeting of the Knoxville Writers’ Guild. Soland will be covering a number of topics important to all writers, those that speak to the heart of personal creativity. The title, “Working Writer,” is certainly appropriate to Lisa Soland, for she has in the span of not too many years written some three dozen plays. About one-third of these have been full-length, while others have embraced the one-act and ten-minute formats. Soland’s written achievements have been complemented by her experience as a producer-director, one whose credits number over eighty theatrical productions, fifty-five of which had been staged for the first time.

May: Lisa Horstman, an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books, will be bringing her unique talents into focus at the Thursday, May 6 meeting of the Knoxville Writers’ Guild. Horstman plans to give a presentation of her current creative approach, which employs stop-motion handcrafted puppets and digital artwork. She’ll also be discussing the many ways in which her career course has evolved over the years. Horstman’s singular artistic gifts evidence themselves in the recently-published Squawking Matilda (Marshall Cavendish; Tarrytown, NY).

April: Poet Joshua Robbins will be bringing to light his faith-inspired verse at the Thursday, April 1 meeting of the Knoxville Writers’ Guild. Robbins will be reading from his work at the meeting, which will also find the writer discussing how religious faith and traditional hymns have informed his poetry. Robbins currently resides in Knoxville with his wife, Emily. He is a PhD student in English at the University of Tennessee , where he teaches English composition and poetry writing, has a fellowship to work with James Agee’s unpublished poetry manuscripts, and is Poetry Editor for the literary arts journal Grist. Additionally, Joshua serves on the Board of Directors of the Knoxville Writers’ Guild.

March: Laura Still, local poet and playwright, will discuss her new book of poetry, Guardians, published by Celtic Cat Publishing, 2009.

February: Jack Neeley, Knoxville's favorite history writer, will talk about his book, Market Square: A History of the Most Democratic Place on Earth.

January: Cancelled due to snow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Archive of program speakers, 1998 to present