Join authors Halle Hill and Terry Roberts this Thursday, February 20, 7 p.m. at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street. Appalachia has long provided the backdrop for some of the most celebrated stories in American literature. However, the region is far from a monolith. The upcoming Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture offers a unique opportunity to engage with two authors whose work captures the rich complexity of Appalachian life.
The event, moderated by Natalie Graham, professor and head of UT’s Department of Africana Studies, is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Friends of the Knox County Public Library and the John C. Hodges Society of the University of Tennessee Libraries, attendees are encouraged to RSVP here.
Halle Hill’s short story collection Good Women (2023) explores the lives of 12 Black women across the Appalachian South. Her characters navigate faith, struggle, resilience and redemption in deeply personal ways: a woman on a Greyhound bus heads to Florida to meet her sugar daddy’s mother; a state fair employee contemplates revenge on a local preacher; a sister wrestles with guilt as she helps her brother plan to run away with a man he loves in secret; a young woman working for a fraudulent for-profit college grapple with the lies she sells for a living. Good Women was named one of the Best Books of 2023 by several literary journals. Born and raised in East Tennessee, Hill now lives, works and teaches in North Carolina.
Terry Roberts, a lifelong educator, reformer and award-winning novelist, is known for weaving the history and culture of Appalachia into his fiction. His upcoming eighth novel is set for release in August. In The Holy Ghost Speakeasy and Revival (2018), Roberts introduces readers to the Rev. Jedidiah Robbins, whose traveling revival company rides the rails of 1920s Appalachia. While preaching the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Robbins also delivers spirits of another kind — top-tier moonshine from the region’s hidden stills. Fellow novelist Ron Rash describes the novel as transcending satire, tackling complex questions of faith and morality in a world rife with hypocrisy. Additionally, Roberts has been recognized as “the master of Appalachian noir” for his Stephen Robbins Chronicles, a series following Asheville’s own crime fighter. A native of Western North Carolina, Roberts comes from a long line of mountain farmers, bootleggers and preachers — figures who frequently appear in his work. He currently resides in Asheville, where he serves as the director of the National Paideia Center.
This event offers a unique opportunity to engage with two authors whose work captures the rich complexity of Appalachian life. Don’t miss an evening of literature, history, and compelling storytelling.
About the Wilma Dykeman Stokely Lecture:
Few people have portrayed the complexity of the region more astutely than Wilma Dykeman Stokely, for whom a sense of place was forefront in her writing. She was an author, speaker, teacher, historian and environmentalist and the namesake for the memorial lecture series, established in 2007 by the Friends of the Knox County Public Library. The John C. Hodges Society has co-hosted the series since 2014. Previous lecture guests include Ron Rash, Don Flemons, Amy Greene, Nikki Giovanni and Silas House.
Mary Pom Claiborne is assistant director for marketing, communications and development for Knox County Public Library.
