Writers@Work Welcomes Tom Franklin And Beth Ann Fennelly, April 8-11

  • Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly
Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly

The Humanities and Fine Arts Division of Chattanooga State Community College will present the 2019 Writers@Work event beginning Monday, April 8.

Tom Franklin was born in Dickinson, Alabama, a town of about 400 people. As a non-hunter in a hunting family, Mr. Franklin spent his childhood writing, drawing, and reading. After moving to Mobile to attend college, Mr. Franklin recalls receiving such low marks that his father decided to stop paying his college tuition.

To pay for his own schooling, he worked a variety of night jobs including a stint cleaning up hazardous waste. It was during this time that he eventually discovered creative writing classes. 

Upon graduating from the University of South Alabama, Mr. Franklin went on to earn his Master of Fine Arts from The University of Arkansas, where he met his wife, poet and author Beth Ann Fennelly. He is the recipient of a variety of literary accolades including the Edgar Award, the Golden Dagger Award for Best Novel (UK), the LA Times Book Prize for Best Mystery or Thriller, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001.  Franklin’s 2011 New York Times bestselling novel, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, has received critical acclaim, with the Seattle Times describing the novel as “a powerful literary thriller” and the Los Angeles Times stating that the novel is “[a] wondrous reading pleasure.” Mr. Franklin is also the author of Smonk (2006) and Hell at the Breach (2003), as well as a collection of short stories entitled Poachers (1999). He currently teaches in the University of Mississippi's MFA program.

Mr. Franklin co-authored The Tilted World with his wife, Beth Ann Fennelly, in 2013. Set in 1927, the novel follows federal revenuer agent Ted Ingersol as he and his partner Ham Johnson attempt to locate two missing agents in the town of Hobnob, Mississippi. After finding an abandoned baby at the scene of a shootout, Ingersol places the child with a woman named Dixie Clay, not knowing that she will eventually help him to unravel the secrets of sabotage and murder that inhabit the town. The Seattle Times describes the novel as “a swift, soulful mix of love story and crime saga…”, declaring it “literary crime fiction of the highest order.”

Beth Ann Fennelly was born in New Jersey, but grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois, just north of Chicago. From a young age, Ms. Fennelly wanted to become an actor, but after a lackluster performance while in college at Notre Dame, she enrolled in a poetry workshop. This had a profound influence on her, and in reference to that workshop, Ms. Fennelly has stated, “I remember feeling like all my life I’d wanted to swim, but I hadn’t known that until I was thrown into the water.”

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, Ms. Fennelly spent time teaching English in a coal-mining town along the Czech/Polish border. She later earned her MFA from the University of Arkansas where she was a Lily Peter Fellow. She then went on to teach at the University of Wisconsin, as well as Knox College, before moving to the University of Mississippi, where she is currently a professor and the Director of the MFA Program. Ms. Fennelly has received many awards and honors for her writing, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, United States Artists, and the Illinois and Mississippi Arts Councils. She has also received a Pushcart Prize, the Wood Award from The Carolina Quarterly, and won The Black Warrior Review Contest. Perhaps her highest honor to date came in 2016 when she was named the Poet Laureate of Mississippi, a position she still holds. 

Ms. Fennelly’s work includes three collections of poetry: Open House (2002), Tender Hooks (2004), and Unmentionables (2008). Fennelly also works in prose, authoring Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother (2007) and co-authoring The Tilted World (2013) with her husband and fellow-writer, Tom Franklin. The Tilted World was released to much critical acclaim and was named the Southern Booksellers Association Okra Pick, the LibraryReads pick, and Uncut Magazine’s Best Books of 2013. Ms. Fennelly’s latest book, Heating and Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs (2017), collects a variety of flash pieces, many of which have also appeared in well-respected national publications. She is currently writing a novel. 

Here is the schedule of events:

Event:

An Evening at The Princess

Date & Time:

Monday, April 8 @ 6:00pm

Location:

The Princess Theater in South Pittsburg

215 S Cedar Ave, South Pittsburg, TN 37380

Details:

Reading and Book Signing

Visit the historic and charming Princess Theatre in South Pittsburg for the opening night of Writers@Work. Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly will read from The Tilted World, discuss their lives as writers, and answer questions from the audience. Afterwards, linger in the lobby to have your book signed.

 

Event:

A Night at the Museum

Date & Time:

Tuesday, April 9 @ 6:00pm

Location:

The Hunter Museum of American Art

10 Bluff View Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37403

Details:

Reading and Book Signing

Hors D'oeuvres and Dessert Reception

Enjoy beautiful views of the Tennessee River from the lobby of the Hunter Museum during this reading by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly. Join us at 5:15pm for a self-guided gallery walk focused on pieces of American art that share themes relevant tothe authors’ novel. Drift back to the lobby by 6:00pm, when Franklin and Fennelly will read, discuss writing The Tilted World together, and answer audience questions. Get your books signed during the hors d’oeuvres and dessert reception.

 

Event:

SouthBound, featuring Beth Ann Fennelly, offered in partnership with Southern Lit Alliance and Star Line Books

 

Date & Time:

Wednesday, April 10 @ 5:30pm

 

Location:

Star Line Books

1467 Market St #106, Chattanooga, TN 37402

 

Details:

Reading, Hors D’oeuvres, and Book Signing

Register for this event at www.southernlitalliance.org as seating is limited.

Stop in downtown at Chattanooga’s only independent bookstore for light refreshments and an intimate gathering with Mississippi’s Poet Laureate, Beth Ann Fennelly. After hearing a few choice bits from her newest collection, Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs, stick around to chat and get your copy signed.

 

 

Event:

ChattState Chautauqua: Moonshine, Marriage, and Mississippi with Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly

Date & Time:

Thursday, April 11 at 2:00pm

Location:

Humanities Auditorium on the main campus

4501 Amnicola Highway; Chattanooga, TN 37406

Details:

Reading/Presentation, Q&A, and Book Signing

Light Refreshments

Come find out why Tom Franklin says Beth Ann Fennelly’s fingerprints are all over everything he’s written since 1994. The couple will read, discuss their lives as writers, and answer questions from attendees.

Find more information at: https://www.facebook.com/ChattStateChautauqua/

 

Event:

Inside the Minds of Franklin and Fennelly: The Behind-the-Writer Interview

 

Date & Time:

Thursday, April 11 at 7:00pm

 

Location:

Humanities Auditorium on the main campus

4501 Amnicola Highway; Chattanooga, TN 37406

 

Details:

Interview, Q&A, Book Signing, & Dessert Reception

Join us for Writers@Work’s annual interview night. This year, ChattState English Professor Erica Lux will interview Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly about their collaboration on The Tilted World, their lives as Southern writers, and what their writing process looks like. As always, bring your questions for the authors and your books for the signing. Dessert reception to follow.

 

 

 

For further information, contact Erica Lux at WritersAtWork@chattanoogastate.edu

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