January 24, 2026: Former Knox County Corrections Officer Darrell Wiser, a fourth generation Knox County/Knoxville PD law enforcement legacy, will tell us about working in corrections and some of the cases, including tragic violent assaults, murders, and the cocaine bear, that his family has been involved in over generations of service.
February 28: Appalachian WordFest: Smoking Guns will have a joint booth. Leanne Tyler, Kelley Griffin, Ernie Lancaster, and Jeffrey Philips will also have booths. Ernest Lancaster will be speaking on Goals, Motivation, and Conflict. Sharon Griffith will be presenting, Inspired by Mountain Tales.
March 28 : Our own Karen Hall, author of several Brotherhood Protectors series books, Ms. Holly and Mr. Ivy Save Christmas, and most recently, Victorian mystery Murder at the Summer Fete, on Setting.
April 25: NYT Bestselling Thriller and Military Sci-Fi author Bob Mayer on writing craft. His four books on writing in a bundle for $8. Note he has a Freebies page at his website! NOTE: Bob was unable to attend. Leanne Tyler presented her Knoxville Book Festival talk on Setting.
May 23 : No Meeting - Memorial Day Weekend
June 27: Anniversary Celebration - Author Nancy Locklin will speak on her upcoming non-fiction crime book about a Knoxville serial killer in the early 20th century and her research process.
July 25: C. Hope Clark, is the author of The Carolina Slade Series which has taken several awards from the small Phillip Mangelsdorf Award for best opening paragraph to Alabama Writer’s Conclave Competition, The Writing Show Chapter Competition as judged by bestselling mystery author C. J. Box, finalist Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense sponsored by Romance Writers of America, and semi-finalist status (top 100 out of 10,000) in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. Two books won Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and three books received EPIC e-Book Awards. Salkehatchie Secret won best mystery at the Imadjinn Awards. She currently has three series featuring, respectively, an amateur sleuth, a veteran police woman, and a private investigator. She is the founder of fundsforwriters.com
August 22: Criminologist Judith A. Yates on Shirley Winters and her life of crime documented in Yates' new book "Shadows in Fire." Winters has shared information she has never revealed to law enforcement or hospital staff. Yates and Winters have corresponded for over six years via letters, phone calls, and emails. What Judith A. Yates has learned shocked even the most experienced fire investigator. is a recognized expert in female crime. She has lectured about crime and criminal behavior across the United States. Ms. Yates has written eight nonfiction crime books (and two fiction crime books based on true stories.) She is the Director of Best True Crime Books, Games & Video LLC. Ms. Yates is currently completing her PhD in Criminology. She is a third generation Kentuckian, and lives on a hobby farm of rescued animals in south Kentucky. Find out more and see her work at http://www.JudithAYates.com.
September 26: Cumberland Gap Harvest Moon Festival Booth!
October 24: Field Trip
November
December 12 : HOLIDAY PARTY
January 23, 2027: Terena Bell is a book publicist and writer. She's successfully secured clients coverage from "The Today Show," NPR, Good Housekeeping, Book Riot, New Books Network, and others. Her debut short fiction collection, Tell Me What You See (Whiskey Tit, 2022), was named one of the “best books of the century (so far)” by New York Society Library and a Ms Magazine must-read. The title story was a New York Foundation for the Arts grant winner and another from the collection has been optioned to become a feature film.