Friends of Library has authors table, readings at Secret City Festival

The Friends of the Oak Ridge Public Library will participate in the Secret City Festival held at the Oak Ridge Civic Center on Friday and Saturday, June 8-9, by sponsoring local authors. The authors will be in the Club Room of the Oak Ridge Civic Center, autographing and selling their books at the following times:

Friday, June 8

• 10 a.m.-12 p.m.: Danita “Dee Dee” Ashley; Charles and Beverly Connor
• 12 p.m.-2 p.m. Connie Green; Carol Grametbauer
• 2 p.m.-4 p.m.: Wes Sims

Saturday, June 9

• 10 a.m.-12 p.m.: Carol Oen; Judy DiGregorio
• 12 p.m.-2 p.m.: Shirley Raines; Patricia Hope
• 2 p.m.-4 p.m.: Ray Smith

The featured local authors will read from their work at 15-minute intervals, and they include:

Danita “Dee Dee” Ashley of Oliver Springs, is author of Murder by the Springs, which is based on a true story about two spinster sisters—Ann and Margaret Richards—who were brutally murdered in Oliver Springs in 1940. The murders took place in the sisters’ Victorian mansion and was believed to be committed by their 16-year-old errand boy.

Beverly and Charles Connor are Oak Ridgers and author of The Poplar Creek Murders, which is set in Oak Ridge. Beverly is also the author of the Diane Fallon Forensic Investigation series and the Lindsay Chamberlain Mystery series. Before she began her writing career, she worked in the Southeastern United States as an archaeologist specializing in Southeastern Indians of the Mississippian period: A.D. 900-1700. She weaves her professional experiences as an archaeologist and her knowledge of the South into interlinked stories of the past and present in both her series of mysteries.

Connie Green is the author of two Margaret McElderry Books for children, The War at Home (based on growing up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, during World War II) and Emmy (based on her Kentucky mining-community roots) (both reprinted by Iris Press in 2016). She has two complete works of poetry, Darwin’s Breath (Iris Press 2018) and Household Inventory (winner of the Brick Road Poetry Prize, 2014), and two chapbooks, Slow Children Playing and Regret Comes to Tea (Finishing Line Press).

Carol Grametbauer’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in journals, including Appalachian Heritage, Appalachian Journal, Connecticut River Review, POEM, The Kerf, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and Third Wednesday, and in a number of anthologies and online journals. She is the author of two chapbooks, Homeplace (Main Street Rag, 2018) and Now & Then (Finishing Line Press, 2014). She lives in Kingston, Tennessee, and is chairman of the board of directors of Tennessee Mountain Writers.

Wes Sims, of Oak Ridge has published one chapbook of poetry, When Night Comes (Finishing Line Press, 2013). His work has appeared in Connecticut Review, G.W. Review, South Carolina Review, Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, Praxis Magazine, Liquid Imagination, The Avocet, Nature Writing, Pangolin Review, and others. He enjoys writing nature and humorous poetry.

Carol Oen, author of Songs That Remember, a SENIOR romance novel. Three characteristics of this sub-genre are older characters, disabilities are central to the story, and the print is 14-point for easier reading. Oen writes during retirement from a career as biologist, information specialist, and manager at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. She is an active member of two writers’ groups and leads classes she calls “Pieces of My Life, Writing Memoirs,” for which she uses a quilt as a life metaphor.

Judy Lockhart DiGregorio, an Oak Ridge author is a YWCA Woman of Distinction in the Arts. She is the author of three humor books from Celtic Cat Publishing, Life Among the Lilliputians, Memories of a Loose Woman, and Tidbits, as well as a CD of humorous stories called “Jest Judy.” Judy’s humorous essays and light verse have been published in anthologies, newspapers, and magazines including The Army Times, The Writer, ByLine Magazine, CC Motorcycle News-Magazine, New Millennium Writings, and the Chicken Soup books.

Shirley Raines, of Oak Ridge is a speaker, author, and consultant. She has written 17 books and will autograph two of her children’s books at the Secret City Festival, Birds: Discovering North American Species and Butterflies: Exploring the Life Cycle. Shirley is president emeritus of the University of Memphis, where she served for 12 years. She is presently writing From Preschool Teacher to University President: Leadership Lessons. Raines is a keynote speaker to conferences of educators, nonprofit leaders, civic organizations, and corporations.

Award-winning writer Patricia Hope has appeared in numerous publications, including Southern Writers, The Writer, and Blue Ridge Country, and many newspapers and anthologies. She has edited and published two poetry anthologies (2010 and 2017). Her novel Lonely Way Back Home was published in 2017.

Ray Smith, Oak Ridge’s historian, has more than 45 years of experience at the Y-12 National Security Complex. He has co-produced the highly acclaimed and award-winning Secret City set of two 90-minute DVDs that has become the definitive history of Oak Ridge. He has also written 14 books on the East Tennessee area history consisting of nine “Historically Speaking” volumes, The John Hendrix Story, 1944 Troop Train Wreck, Historical Sketch of Oak Ridge Schools, Oak Ridge International Friendship Bell, and Delina. Ray has also published four photo books of East Tennessee scenery and the Oak Ridge International Friendship Bell. Ray continues to publish a weekly Oak Ridge history newspaper column, “Historically Speaking,” which form the basis for annual books on Oak Ridge history. His most recent film is the documentary, Ed Westcott—Photographer.

The Friends of the Library (FOL) is a nonprofit organization that holds used book sales to raise funds for the Library as well as to recycle publications, supports the Library’s summer reading program for children, sponsors a book club and takes part in other activities, all to benefit the Oak Ridge Public Library and the surrounding communities. Membership forms are available in the library lobby or at the sale. Contact Nancy Hardin at (865) 482-4560 or [email protected] for more information or visit the group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/foloakridge.

The Secret City Festival will take place in the A.K. Bissell Park and Civic Center. For more information, visit www.secretcityfestival.com.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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