Author Events

Since 1986, Friends has brought authors, poets, musicians, and filmmakers to Knoxville to inspire, inform, and entertain. Those appearing since 2013 include the following:

2023

February 28: Ashley York and Elaine McMillion Sheldon in conversation during the 2023 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture

2022

May 6: Adrian Trigiani

May 3: Kathleen Dean Moore, a virtual conversation with WUOT’s Chrissy Keuper during the 2022 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture

2021

March 9: Wiley Cash and Frank X. Walker, a virtual presentation of the 2021 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture

2020

February 25: Erik Larson

Feruary 11: Michael W. Twitty, 2020 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture

2019

May 21: Rick Bragg

April 8: Barbara Brown Taylor in conversation with Dr. William Pender, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church

March 14: Silas House, 2019 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture

February 7: Jessica Wilkerson and Ginny Savage Ayers

2018

August 7: Vince Vawter

July 8: Jon Meacham in conversation with Senator Lamar Alexander

April 5: Nikki Giovanni, 2018 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture

March 8: Elaine Weiss

2017

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

October 10: Sharyn McCrumb

October 5: Denise Kiernan

September 19: Kerri Maniscalco

May 16: Nathaniel Philbrick

April 9: Anne Lamott

March 23: Amy Greene, 2017 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture

2016

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

August 4: Dan Zak

May 25: Sharyn McCrumb

April 7: Robert Morgan, 2016 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture

March 22: Erik Larson

2015

June 2: Steve Inskeep

March 12: Dom Flemons, 2015 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture

2014

October 19: Vince Vawter

October 9: Sharyn McCrumb

September 23: Robert Reich, Fifth Annual Anne Mayhew Distinguished Honors Lecture at the University of Tennessee

April 9: Amanda Ripley

March 4: Ron Rash, 2014 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture

2013

November 2: Elizabeth Gilbert

September 25: Abraham Verghese, Fourth Annual Anne Mayhew Distinguished Honors Lecture at the University of Tennessee

May 21: Denise Kiernan

May 19: Rick Atkinson

February 18: Jon Meacham

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)
First Presbyterian Church
Tennessee Theatre
Bijou Theatre
Knoxville Museum of Art
The Press Room
Keurig Green Mountain
Knox Education Foundation