Topic: Clarksville Writer’s Conference

Annual Clarksville Writers Conference opened with new feature

By Turner McCullough Jr. | August 23, 2009 |

The Annual Clarksville Writers’ Conference opened with a full schedule for the participants. A diverse group of writers gave the participants a cross section of experience to draw upon.

Presentations included readings of their works to workshops focusing on elements of writing, style, character and story development. A new feature at this year’s conference is the opportunity for writers or other interested participants to meet with professional literary agents to discuss any aspect of the literary trade, and their own works or projects.

Austin Peay State University’s  Morgan Center’s third floor served as the hosting location of the annual two-day conference. From the opening hours where participants picked up their conference credentials packet at the registration table, attendees gathered to await the beginning of the conference’s first sessions with eagerness. Breakfast snacks were enjoyed in the break room as authors and participants arrived and were shown to their perspective presentation rooms. The APSU Bookstore set up a table featuring the works of the conference authors.

Registration attendants await conference participants check-in

Authors appearing at this year’s conference included

• John Egerton, a self-proclaimed “professional South-watcher”
• Bernis Terhune, poet, playwright, storyteller and author
• P. M. Terrell, author of the suspense/thrillers Exit 22 and Ricochet
• Christopher Burawa, poet, translator and author of Small Mystery of Lapses and director of the APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts
• Susan Gregg Gilmore, journalist and author of “Looking for Salvation at the Diary Queen”
• Katherine Sands, NYC literary agent and author of “Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye.”
• Darnell Arnoult, author of “Sufficient Grace,” and the poetry collection, “What Travels With Us: Poems.”
• Earl S. Braggs, poet, University of Chattanooga Foundation professor of English, author of “Hat Dancer Blue,” and “In Which Language Do I Keep Silent.”
• George Singleton, author of often humorous stories of the rural South including “Work Shirts for Madmen,” “Pep Talks,” “Warnings,”  “These People Are Us,” “The Half-Mammals of Dixie,” and “Why Dogs Chase Cars.”
• James O’Connor, president of O’Connor Communications- a marketing  company specializing in book promotions and author of “Cuss Control: The Complete Book on How To Curb Your Cursing.”
• Lynda O’Connor, executive vice president of O’Connor Communications, a principal of O’Connor Communications specializing in book and author promotions.

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Tobacco Heritage tour of historic homes continues in day two

By Turner McCullough Jr. | August 1, 2009 |

Day Two of Tobacco Heritage Tour of Historic Homes leads into Annual Writers’ Conference

Rossington-Minor House at corner of Chapel and Beech Streets

Day Two of the annual Tour of Historic Homes took participants to divergent parts of the city in celebration of its Tobacco Heritage. Participants again gathered at the Riverview Inn parking lot at nine o’clock. Once abroad the tour bus, they crossed the Red River and traveled to the New Providence area where hidden treasures of the tobacco era where visited and their heritage made known. First stop on the tour was the Rossington-Minor House at the corner of Chapel and Beech Streets. Next was the Wider-Pettus House at 411 Beech Street followed by the Herndon-Cunningham House at 501 E. Street. «Read the rest of this article»

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Sold out, Tobacco Heritage Homes Tour opens annual Writers Conference

By Turner McCullough Jr. | July 24, 2009 |

The Historic Homes Tour which opens the Clarksville Writers’ Conference sells out,  setting a record for this annual Arts and Heritage Development Council event.

Historic Homes Tour participants leaving the Frech-Buck House at 102 Union Street.

Two days of presentations and visits of historic homes of the area raises the bar. Despite the rainy weather, the fifth annual Clarksville Writer’s Conference opened to a warm and welcoming flourish with its Historic Homes Tour. This year’s historic homes tour is completely sold out, a first for the Arts and Heritage Development Council annual event that opens its annual writers’ conference.

Attendees assembled at the Riverview Inn parking lot and were transported to the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center. Sign-in, registration and name tag pick-up were accomplished in the lobby. Dr. Howard Winn gave a lecture with slide show and power point presentation on the Tobacco Heritage of Clarksville. «Read the rest of this article»

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Writer’s Conference: John Seigenthaler Sr. offers “A Word on Words”

By Turner McCullough Jr. | July 26, 2008 |

Famed writer, editor, publisher and 1st Amendment advocate encourages audience, “Everyone has at least one story to tell!”

The Clarksville Country Club Dining Room was the host site for this year’s Writers Conference Buffet Dinner, which featured John Seigenthal Sr. as their keynote speaker.

In listing his many life achievements, one must acknowledge his 43 years as an award-winning journalist of Nashville’s The Tennessean being editor, publisher and CEO; his tenure as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors; serving as the founding editorial director of USA Today; and being an administrative assistant to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and chief negotiator with the governor of Alabama during the Freedom Rides. In 1991, he founded the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, whose mission is creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values. Seigenthaler is also the author of the 2004 biography of American President James K. Polk. He currently hosts a weekly book-review program, “A Word on Words” on Nashville public television station WNPT. «Read the rest of this article»

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‘The Way Home’ is storytelling set in Clarksville

By Debbie Boen | July 21, 2008 |

Traveling from California to be at the Clarksville Writer’s Conference and share her book The Way Home was Bernis Terhune. Bernis claims Clarksville, Tennessee, as the hometown of her heart and most, if not all, of her stories are based in Clarksville with sites like Greenwood cemetery and Tarpley’s mentioned. She talks about the ice man and his donkey in one story.

Patricia Winn describes Bernis as a born storyteller with stories that are hilarious, sensitive, imaginative, packed with unexpected situations, vivid description, and colororful eccentric characters. She says Bernis uses accurate diction of the day and experiences tell the story of a time that is fading quickly.

Bernis now lives in San Jose, CA, and worked many years as an educator helping children with special needs. She is a founding member of a playwright’s theatre in San Francisco.

With permission to reprint from the author here is an exerpt from The Way Home by Bernis Calvin Terhune: «Read the rest of this article»

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Author Karen Spears Zacharias offers a message to all Christians

By Debbie Boen | July 19, 2008 |

This author at the Clarksville Writer’s Conference put a high powered jolt into our coffee. When she was done speaking my hand went up in the air. ‘How do you get away with this? ‘ was all I could muster. Having had countless discussions about what is right and wrong about war according to the Bible, I lack in the background needed to truly make a stand for the message of Jesus. I have never been a Baptist and I am not a child of a Vet killed in war. Several people talked to Karen after her talk saying they are deeply religious as she is, but also opposed to fear based hate.

Karen Spears Zacharias: Author of Revelation from a Potty Mouth Believer and Where is Your Jesus Now

Where is Your Jesus Now is taken from the crime story about a grandma being taken hostage by her son. Tied up to a chair with a gun pointed at grandma’s head he said to her, Where is your Jesus now? She looked him in the eyes and said calmly, He’s right here. Karen said that in the midst of all that danger, threatened with death, she answered with love and faith, not fear. «Read the rest of this article»

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The Clarksville Writer’s Conference: exploring writers and their work

By Debbie Boen | July 19, 2008 |

Writer Debbie Boen offers Clarksville Online readers a view of the participating authors in the recent Clarksville Writers Conference at APSU. Each author discusses the work, the ideas and influences of their writing, and suggestions for aspiring writers.

Barry Kitterman: Editor, playwright, professor of literature and author of The Baker’s Boy

Always exposing Clarksville to creative writing through his classes at APSU and the visiting writers series is Barry Kitterman. He told us the background of and read a passage in his book, The Baker’s Boy. It is a story set in Belize where we explore the world of a school teacher Tanner Johnson, who is in the Peace Corp. Taking the first steps into the school Tanner saw two boys fighting and it wasn’t even breakfast yet. He sees a boy disciplined by being beaten with a rope. The 15 boys in his class are wild birds suddenly in a cage when they are indoors. Out doors they re-energized as if fingers were in sockets. Tanner is a man who is painfully aware of his personal limitations and who, in present time, is incapable of being very responsible because of the doubt in himself. This is his story of how the past follows him. «Read the rest of this article»

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Karen S. Zacharias leads off at the Clarksville Writers Conference

By Turner McCullough Jr. | July 16, 2008 |

Fourth annual writers conference opens with exciting author from the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts

Karen S. Zacharias at the Clarksville Writers Conference

July 11th was the first day of presentations at the 2008 Clarksville Writers Conference. With registration completed and name tags attached, attendees moved onto their choices of the various author presentations of the morning. Karen Spears Zacharias, current author-in-residence for the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts, in Fairhope, Alabama, proved a most intriguing introduction to the conference. She told of not starting her own writing career until age 40 as a way of allaying the fear that anyone is too old to become a writer. Karen titled her presentation after her book, “Mama, Mayhem and Memories.” A breakdown of the primary elements showed her admiration for her mother as she struggled to sustain her family, the mayhem that struggle incorporated and the memories that grew out of their collective struggles.

Having been reared in a military family setting for the first half of her young life, she chronicles the upheaval that followed her father’s death as the family struggles to adjust to this new reality. Everything from having to vacate on-post housing to the sudden lack of structure and support the family faced when they could no longer utilize the military family support system. «Read the rest of this article»

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Headin’ South, Goin’ North

By Bill Larson | July 14, 2008 |

The second event of the 4th annual Clarksville’s Writers Conference was a play at the Roxy Regional Theater. Headin’ South Goin’ North written by John McDonald mixes local historical sites and personages into a fictional story to give an engaging account of the Civil War era.

The story is of Charlie Lurton, a Clarksville boy.  The play follows Charlie (Brad Vile) and his companion Peter (Humberto Figueroa) through their escape from a Union prison camp, to their fate when they arrive back home. The story also follows Mrs. Lurton (Jill Whittinghill) as she makes her way to secure authorization for the release of another son, Horace (Joe Sonenshein) who was suffering from tuberculous. «Read the rest of this article»

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Bus tour of historic Clarksville launched the 4th annual Writers conference

By Bill Larson | July 13, 2008 |

On Thursday morning the 4th annual Clarksville’s Writers Conference began. The first event was a bus tour of historic locations throughout our city. Included in this years tour was Riverview Cemetery, Trinity Episcopal Church, The United Methodist Church, The Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, and the historic Tip Top mansion owned by Elwyn and Rubye Patch.

The tour was organized by Dr Minoa Uffelman, a history professor at Austin Peay State University; and guided by Taylor Emery and Dr. Ellen Kanervo, who both did an excellent job keeping the group on plot and on schedule. As the tour progressed they read aloud excerpts from the diary of Nannie Haskins Smith about her life in Clarksville during the Civil War era.

Monday Morning February 16th `63
Again I have commenced a journal. I used to keep one but two years ago when the war broke out, I ceased to write in it just when I ought to have continued. Yes! Our country was then perfectly distracted; To arms! To arms! was echoed from every side; volunteer companies were being gotten up all over the country to fly to her rescue; and of course Clarksville did her part….

Haskins goes on in this to describe the mustering of two Clarksville regiments, the fall of Fort Donelson, Clarksville’s occupation, it’s brief reprieve from Woodward’s raid, and Col. S. D. Bruce’s recapture of the city.

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