Great Smoky Mountains Association has created an advisory council for its book publications program to more efficiently drive the selection process for its boutique publishing house.
Comprising a carefully curated group of 12 park experts, scholars, editors and writers, the newly formed council is serving the organization by evaluating book proposals submitted for potential publication. Council members each receive four to five proposals to evaluate during the year, on topics based in their own background, and will then report advice and direction back to Creative Services Director Frances Figart, who oversees the council’s work.
“In addition to providing funding aid to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, one key part of GSMA’s mission is to foster better public understanding of the Smokies by providing visitors with educational and interpretative services,” said Figart. “Book publications are an important way we do this, so it was crucial to work with our board and the National Park Service to nominate and select a diverse array of voices to represent both the cultural and natural history of the park.”
Each member was chosen based on his or her expertise to best consider, analyze and fine-tune the book proposal topics submitted to GSMA for review.
Geoff Cantrell
“The council is an important step for GSMA and the park experience,” said Geoff Cantrell, board vice-chair and publications committee chair. “This remarkable group will assist our decision-making as they guide and inform us during a crucial step in the publication process, which in turn will help ensure a continuation of the excellence already achieved by our award-winning books.”
The 2022 Advisory Council is:
- Anne Bridges, former co-director of the Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project at the University of Tennessee Libraries, whose publications include a major bibliography and edited works on the Smokies
- David Brill, who has written extensively about Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including the nonfiction book “As Far as the Eye Can See: Reflections of an Appalachian Trail Hiker” and GSMA’s popular title “Into the Mist”
- Tommy Cabe, tribal forest resource specialist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the liaison in its relationships with the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service for collaboration on traditional ecological knowledge
- Shana Bushyhead Condill, citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and executive director of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, focused on Native representation in public spaces
- Atalaya Dorfield, National Park Service research assistant for the African American Experiences project, conducting cultural and historical research on African Americans in and around the Smokies
- George Ellison, 2012 winner of Wild South’s Roosevelt-Ashe Conservation Award for Outstanding Journalist in Conservation, as well as the winner of the 2019 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award for GSMA’s “Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography”
- Latria Graham, one of GSMA’s first Steve Kemp Writers-in-Residence, an author who focuses on social justice, the outdoors, food and culture, and the writer behind Garden&Gun’s “This Land” column
- William A. Hart, scholar of the Smokies’ famous Japanese photographer, George Masa, and author of “3,000 Miles in the Smokies,” as well as a contributor to GSMA’s popular “Hiking Trails of the Smokies” guide
- Rose Houk, frequent contributor to GSMA’s Smokies Life journal, as well as the author of GSMA’s “Pictures for a Park,” “Exploring the Smokies,” “Smoky Mountain Elk,” and “Food and Recipes of the Smokies”
- James Edward Mills, the freelance journalist who wrote “The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors” and co-wrote and co-produced “An American Ascent,” documenting the first all-Black American expedition to attempt a summit of Mt. Denali
- David Perry, former editor-in-chief of the University of North Carolina Press, who has served on the N.C. Arts Council and the N.C. Writers Conference
- Ken Wise, an author, professor, and former director of the Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project at the University of Tennessee Libraries, whose publications include “Hiking Trails of the Great Smoky Mountains”
Selecting and producing only one or two books per year, which are primarily sold in park visitor center bookstores and through GSMA’s online store, the organization’s publishing house primarily focuses on these genres and niches: books on the natural and human history of Great Smoky Mountains National Park; books on conservation and stewardship of park resources; Smokies-related biographies and human-interest stories; hiking, camping and travel guides that enrich the park visitor experience; field guides highlighting the flora and fauna of the region; and photography, art, children’s and young adult books centered on Smokies topics.
GSMA will publish only those book-length original works that have been accepted by the Advisory Council, meaning they meet the highest standards of scientific and historical accuracy and exemplify excellence in writing and illustration.
GSMA currently has a handful of publications that have already been approved in its production pipeline to be developed over the next three to four years. In order to get caught up with evaluating existing proposals, GSMA will not be accepting any new book proposals until January 2023.
Great Smoky Mountains Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the scientific, historical, and interpretive activities of Great Smoky Mountains National Park by providing educational products and services to park visitors. GSMA depends on the generous support of its members to fulfill its mission, preserving the Smokies for generations to come. Membership-driven funding also supports the preservation of more than 90 historic structures throughout the park, as well as the backcountry rangers who protect more than 800 miles of trails to spectacular mountain vistas, rushing streams, waterfalls and quiet groves of old-growth forest. For more information about GSMA, visit smokiesinformation.org.
Information provided by GSMA.