Launch Party and Book Signing with Audra McElyea
In conversation with Abby Ham
East Tennessee History Center
Friday, October 17, 6pm – 8pm
Join us on Friday, October 17th at 6 pm at the East Tennessee History Center for a bookish launch party for thriller author Audra McElyea’s newest release: Not Good People. Not Good People is a locked-room thriller about strangers lured to a resort where their dark secrets are revealed and their lives are on the line. This launch party will feature one hour of Audra McElyea in conversation with Abby Ham, WBIR-TV news anchor. During the second hour, attendees will have a chance to snack, mingle, purchase copies of Audra’s new release, and chat with Audra herself in the book signing line!
Audra McElyea is a former corporate buyer and magazine contributor turned thriller author who writes books in their villain era. Audra McElyea is the author of One Little Word, If You See Me, and Hush, Dear Sister. Read more about Audra McElyea and her work here.
Tickets are $5 each.
Since 1986, Friends has brought authors, poets, musicians, and filmmakers to Knoxville to inspire, inform, and entertain. Those appearing since 2013 include the following:
2025
April 16: Terry Roberts and Halle Hill, 2025 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
May 9: Jeff Zentner
2026
2027
2024
February 29: Carolyn Finney, 2024 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
April 2: Patti Callahan Henry
May 13: Erik Larson
2023
February 28: Ashley York and Elaine McMillion Sheldon in conversation during the 2023 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
June 14: Julia Franks
September 12: Jerry Craft
September 15: Lauren Groff
2022
March 3: Kathleen Dean Moore, a virtual conversation with WUOT’s Chrissy Keuper during the 2022 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
May 6: Adriana Trigiani
2021
March 9: Wiley Cash and Frank X Walker, a virtual presentation of the 2021 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
2020
February 11: Michael W. Twitty, 2020 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
February 25: Erik Larson
2019
February 7: Jessica Wilkerson and Ginny Savage Ayers
March 14: Silas House, 2019 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
April 8: Barbara Brown Taylor in conversation with Dr. William Pender, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church
May 21: Rick Bragg
2018
March 8: Elaine Weiss
April 5: Nikki Giovanni, 2018 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
July 8: Jon Meacham in conversation with Senator Lamar Alexander
August 7: Vince Vawter
2017
March 23: Amy Greene, 2017 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
April 9: Anne Lamott
May 16: Nathaniel Philbrick
September 19: Kerri Maniscalco
October 5: Denise Kiernan
October 10: Sharyn McCrumb
November 12: Julia Watts, James E. Cherry, Mahayla Smith, Melanie Haws, Tom Ray, David Hunter, and Charles Dodd White, speaking about Unbroken Circle: Stories of Cultural Diversity in the South
2016
March 22: Erik Larson
April 7: Robert Morgan, 2016 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
May 25: Sharyn McCrumb
August 4: Dan Zak
September 11: Jim and Dykeman Stokely, sons of the late Wilma Dykeman Stokely, speaking about her posthumous memoir, Family of Earth: A Southern Mountain Childhood
2015
March 12: Dom Flemons, 2015 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
June 2: Steve Inskeep
2014
March 4: Ron Rash, 2014 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture
April 9: Amanda Ripley
September 23: Robert Reich, Fifth Annual Anne Mayhew Distinguished Honors Lecture at the University of Tennessee
October 9: Sharyn McCrumb
October 19: Vince Vawter
2013
February 18: Jon Meacham
May 19: Rick Atkinson
May 21: Denise Kiernan
September 25: Abraham Verghese, Fourth Annual Anne Mayhew Distinguished Honors Lecture at the University of Tennessee
November 2: Elizabeth Gilbert
These events were made possible by our many community friendships:
Knox County Public Library
Knox County Public Library Foundation
University of Tennessee Libraries
John C. Hodges Society of UT Libraries
Union Ave Books
WUOT
East Tennessee History Center
East Tennessee Historical Society
Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature (CCYAL)
UT’s Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education
First Presbyterian Church
Tennessee Theatre
Bijou Theatre
Knoxville Museum of Art
The Press Room
Keurig Green Mountain
Knox Education Foundation
The Episcopal School of Knoxville