Sam Venable
Sam Venable, a humor columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel, will be the guest speaker at the August 27 meeting of the Anderson County Democratic Women’s Club. The club will host a light supper and silent auction at 6 p.m. Monday in a meeting room of the Clinton Community Center, which is at 101 South Hicks Street in Clinton.
Venable, a University of Tennessee graduate, has written for the Knoxville News Sentinel since 1970, first as outdoors editor and later as a columnist specializing in humor. He retired from daily duties at the newspaper in 2014 but continues to write a twice-weekly column.
The winner of more than three dozen state, regional and national writing awards, Venable is a member of the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame (Class of 2009) and the Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame (Class of 2014). His six-part News Sentinel series “Fragments of Hate,” published during Black History Month in 2014, won the Sigma Delta Chi feature reporting award from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Investigative Reporting award from the Tennessee Press Association, and was a Pulitzer Prize nominee.
Venable is the author of 13 books, including his most recent, “To Retire? Or Not to Retire? – A Geezing Humorist’s Quest for Answers.” In recent years, he has become popular as a comedic entertainer, delivering his humorous views on such topics as how to speak “hillbillyese” and the perils of growing older.
Venable enjoys hunting, fishing, hiking, and swimming in his spare time. He and his wife Mary Ann have two grown children and three grandchildren.
No reservations are necessary. Democratic Women’s Club board members will provide a light supper. The cost is $15 per person. For more information, send an email to Ann Mostoller at [email protected] or call Mary Matheny at (865) 483-8937.
This press release was submitted by Kay Brookshire.
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