What's New with the Knoxville Writers' Guild?

Marilyn Kallet accepts Guild award. The following is the presentation given by Candance Reaves to Marilyn Kallet at the end of the April 2 program:

"Marilyn has done many things for the Guild. She has given us her time, something very precious to a non-profit organization. She has lobbied on our behalf with the university to get us great voices, great speakers, and funding from the English Department. She has judged many of our poetry competitions, brought us performance poets, taught workshops, served on the board. The list goes on and on. In order to show how much we appreciate her dedication to KWG and to acknowledge her incredible body of work, we make this presentation to her.

When we hear the name Sarajevo, we think of war and horror. There was war and horror at two different times, but there was also good and heroism. The Sarajevo Haggadah is an illuminated manuscript that contains the traditional text of the Passover Haggadah which accompanies the Passover Seder. It is the oldest Sephardic Haggadah in the world, originating in Barcelona around 1350. The Haggadah is presently owned by the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, where it is on permanent display.To really know about this book, one needs to read Geraldine Brooks’ People of the Book. There was also a very good article about it in The New Yorker last year.

Let me sum up by saying that this book represents not only the prayers of a people but the fact that there are good and honorable people in the world who risk their lives to do what is right, people like Dervis Korkut, the Muslim man who protected the haggadah from the Nazis, and Mira Papo, the young Jewish woman he later also saved from them." -Candance Reaves

Outscape reading by Andrew Najberg at the Knoxville Sports and Tourism offices.We had fun at the Outscape reading at Knoxville Sports & Tourism in downtown Knoxville.

Photo by Martha Rose Woodward.

 

New from Amazon! A new way to browse and shop favorite authors, discover new books, and more. Today each Author Store includes a bibliography, and can include a biography, author photo, and discussion.board. Click Amazon Author Store and find your favorite author A-Z. The Guild earns referral fees for each purchase made through this link.

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

Kathryn Stripling Byer, Poet Laureate for North Carolina, features Linda Parsons Marion and her book of poetry, Mother Land (available on Amazon.com), in her blog: http://kathrynstriplingbyer.blogspot.com/2008/12/mother-land-by-linda-parsons-marion.html

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.

2008 Contest Winners

KWG Award for Creative Nonfiction
Judge: Sue Weaver Dunlap
First Place: In the Car with Mother on Christmas Eve by Phyllis Gobbell of Nashville
Second Place: On Emanuel Cemetery Road by Jane Sasser of Oak Ridge
Third Place: Hope on I-40 by Jenna Wright of Martin

KWG Award for Fiction in honor of Leslie Garrett
Judge: Pamela Schoenewaldt w/ Carole Ann Borges and Alan Sims
First Place: The Sound that Clouds Make by Lones Seiber of Morristown
Second Place: A Full Day by David E. Joyner of Knoxville
Third Place: Apple Crisp is Easy by Mary H. Clarke of Nashville

KWG Award for Poetry in Honor of Libba Moore Gray and Terry Semple
Judge: Marianne Worthington
First Place: Heartwood by Cathy A. Kodra of Knoxville
Second Place: from Suburban Hymns, i. There Is a Fountain by Joshua Robbins of Knoxville
Third Place: From a Hospital Bed by Connie Jordan Green of Lenoir City
(In no particular order):
Honorable Mention: More Than a Rooster by Tim Sisk of Knoxville
Honorable Mention: Burrow by Melanie Williams of Oak Ridge
Honorable Mention: Tornado Season by Caroline Mann of Knoxville TN 37917

KWG Young Writers’ Award for Poetry
Judge: Candance Reaves w/ Laura Still and Judy Loest
First Place - Mi Perla Bonita by Meg Clowers of Oak Ridge
Second Place - Growing Seasons by Monica Silvera of Kingston
Third Place - August 6, 1945 by Kellsey Hook of Oak Ridge

--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.