FOL presents Holiday Book Sale, Dec. 9-11; local author Sign and Sell Dec. 11
The Friends of the Oak Ridge Public Library (FOL) will hold a special Holiday Book Sale Dec. 9 through Dec. 11, in the Oak Ridge Library Auditorium. In addition, on Saturday, Dec, 11 only, FOL will sponsor a local author Sign and Sell, featuring 17 local authors.
The Book Sale will begin with a Members Sale from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec.9. FOL memberships will be available at the door. The cost is $5 for individuals and $10 for families. Please note that, for the comfort and safety of you and our members, we do not allow the use of electronic scanning devices during the Members Sale. These devices can be used during the remaining days of the sale. On Friday, Dec.10, the sale will open at 10:30 a.m. and close at 5:30 p.m. Regular price for most of our titles will continue to be 50 cents or $1 each. Saturday, Dec. 11, is the Half-Price Sale Day from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In response to the COVID-19 situation, we will require face masks. Masks will be available for attendees who do not bring one.
The FOL Holiday Book Sale will include titles for Christmas and other winter holidays, other titles related to Oak Ridge or by Oak Ridge authors, art and music publications, travel books, and fiction. The authors will be available on Saturday only and divided into three time slots as follows:
10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Linda Claborn Clarke, Jeri L. Duke, Christina M. Eder, Wes Sims, Sylvia Woods, and Patricia Hope.
12:30 to 2:30 p.m.: Sue Weaver Dunlap, Judy Lockhart DiGregorio, Carol Grametbauer, Connie Green, Melanie K. Hutsell, and Shirley Raines.
2:30 to 4:30 p.m. : Rhea “RheaSunshine” Carmon, A.N. Eason, Robert G. Kennedy, Fay Martin, and D. Ray Smith.
The local authors that wii be at the Sign and Sell event are:
Rhea “RheaSunshine” Carmon, Knoxville’s poet laureate, has traveled the nation for 20 years as RheaSunshine, sharing her gift of the spoken word. She has opened for such artists as Nikki Giovanni, Macy Gray, and Saul Williams. She has self-published four chapbooks and has recorded three audio CDs. Her fourth book, "Through the Clouds," explores her battle with Multiple Sclerosis. Published by Iris Press, Rhea's fifth chapbook, "Let the Sunshine In" is a chronicle of her poetry since 2001. Rhea is the creator and executive director of the 5th Woman Cohort, which explores the stories of women, allowing participants to examine their various backgrounds without social and political barriers. Rhea lives in Oak Ridge.
Linda Claborn Clarke of Seymour is a local fiction writer and author of four novels, "Saving Cedro," "Tenants-in-Common," "When Whip-Poor-Wills Cry," and "Awnya de Vere." She writes in the mystery, thriller, and romance genres. She has won awards for her short stories, and has poems published.
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.
Jeri L. Duke, of Clinton, writes true stories inspired by her family history and love of ancestry. Her first book, "The Faraway Spirit," is the story of the families that bought and settled on Nantucket Island. Mary Coffin Starbuck is the main character and the first to become a Quaker on the island. Most recently, she published "Friends of Freedom, Stories of The Underground Railroad," which is set prior to and during the U.S. Civil War.
Sue Weaver Dunlap is the author of "A Walk to the Spring House" (Iris, 2021), "Knead "(Main Street Rag, 2016), and "The Story Tender" (Finishing Line P, 2014). Her poems have appeared in Appalachian Journal, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, and Southern Poetry Anthology, among others. She lives deep in the Southern Appalachian Mountains near Walland, Tennessee, where she and her husband Raymond work a mountain farm. She writes poetry, fiction, and memoir.
A.N. Eason has worked in both elementary and middle school environments and combined her love of children and travel to create a series of books aimed at young children and grandparents. Written in the wake of the pandemic when so much time together was lost for grandparents and grandchildren, the books feature a family of pygmy goats who travel together and make memories — even though something always goes wrong with their plans. The books — "The Grands Go – Oh No!" — are complimented by a trip planning website with itineraries for each destination. Her first grandchild, Nora Grace, inspired the book series.
Christina M. Eder of Oak Ridge is an author, writing tutor, seminar speaker and spiritual life coach. She started the FROG Blog and has published four books including her recently published, "Deep: A 9-Month Whirlpool of Handwritten Letters to Our Creator."
Carol Grametbauer of Kingston is the author of two chapbooks: "Homeplace" (Main Street Rag Publishing, 2018) and "Now & Then" (Finishing Line Press, 2014). Her poems have appeared in Appalachian Heritage, Connecticut River Review, POEM, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, 3rd Wednesday, and The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, drafthorse, Still: The Journal, Fluent, and Maypop, and in a number of anthologies. She is chairman of the board of directors of Tennessee Mountain Writers, which is headquartered in Oak Ridge.
Connie Jordan Green of Loudon County is the author of two award-winning novels for young people, "The War at Home," set in Oak Ridge during World War II, and "Emmy," both published originally by Margaret McElderry imprint of MacMillan and Simon Shuster, respectively, reissued in soft cover by Tellico Books imprint of Iris Press; two poetry chapbooks, "Slow Children Playing" and "Regret Comes to Tea;" and two poetry collections, "Household Inventory," 2015, winner of the Brick Road Poetry Award, and "Darwin’s Breath" (Iris Press). She frequently leads writing workshops.
Patricia Hope of Oak Ridge is a Tribute-to-the-Arts recipient from the Arts Council of Oak Ridge. Her work has appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Number One, Pigeon Parade Quarterly, 2021 Anthology of Appalachian Writers, The Mildred Haun Review, Tiny Seed, Liquid Imagination, American Diversity Report, and many others. She has edited two poetry anthologies: "Remember September Prompted Poetry" (2010) and "In God’s Hand" (2017). Her first romance, "A Place for Lovers," was published in 2015, followed by a mainstream novel "Lonely Way Back Home" in 2017.
Melanie K. Hutsell of Oak Ridge is the author of an Appalachian magic realism novel, "The Dead Shall Rise: A Tale of the Mountains," published by Celtic Cat Publishing in 2016, and her short fiction has appeared in Appalachian Heritage, Still: The Journal, The Madison Review, and elsewhere. Her second novel, currently titled, The Book of Susan, is forthcoming from Paraclete Press in fall 2022. Hutsell was selected as one of eight Featured Authors for Knoxville’s National Authors Day celebration in 2019. She has appeared on WDVX’s WordStream and at the Authors Roundtable at the Oak Ridge Public Library in November 2019.
Robert G. Kennedy of Oak Ridge is a polyglot senior systems engineer who does green energy for people all over the world. In the past, he worked on robotic systems for military, nuclear, and industrial applications, artificial intelligence, network security; strategic studies and international affairs, as well as space-based systems and technologies. He spent a year on Capitol Hill working for the Subcommittee on Space in the U.S. House of Representatives and was invited to Moscow on by the Russian Academy of Science to lecture on climate change. The book he will be sharing is "Beyond the Boundary."
Fay Martin of Oak Ridge was born in Jamaica, West Indies, obtained a B.Sc. from the University of the West Indies, a M.Sc. from MacMaster University in Canada and a Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from the University of Tennessee. Her books include: "Resurgam! The Poems of Fay Martin" and "From Jamaican Hills: The Memoirs of Fay Martin."
Shirley Raines is a much sought–after speaker, consultant, and author. She was the first woman president of the University of Memphis. She is a member of the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame and was invited to speak at the White House Conference on University Entrepreneurship for the FedEx Institute of Technology. She has written 18 books, 15 for educators, two for children, and her newest leadership book, "An Uncommon Journey: Leadership Lessons from a Preschool Teacher who Became a University President."
Wesley Sims of Oak Ridge has published three chapbooks of poetry: "When Night Comes," Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, Kentucky, 2013; "Taste of Change," Iris Press, Oak Ridge, Tenn., 2019; and "A Pocketful of Little Poems," Amazon, 2020. His work has appeared in Artemis Journal, Bewildering Stories, Connecticut Review, G.W. Review, Liquid Imagination, Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, Plum Tree Tavern, Novelty Magazine, Poem, Poetry Quarterly, Time of Singing, The South Carolina Review, and several others,
D. Ray Smith, Oak Ridge’s historian, has more than 47 years of experience at the Y-12 National Security Complex. He has co-produced the award-winning Secret City set of two 90-minute DVDs. 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 newspaper column called "Historically Speaking" in The Oak Ridger. His most recent film is the documentary, "Ed Westcott – Photographer."
Sylvia Woods of Oak Ridge is a retired Oak Ridge High School English teacher. Her book, "What We Take With Us," was published in April 2021. Her work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies including "Southern Poetry Anthology V: Appalachia," "Appalachian Review," and many more.
FOL is a non-profit 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, (865) 482-4560, nehardin@hotmail.com, for additional information or visit the group on Facebook www.facebook.com/foloakridge.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: FOL presents Holiday Book Sale; Local author Sign and Sell
