Friends of Oak Ridge Public Library meeting to feature trio at annual meeting March 19

Pat Hope
·2 min read

The annual meeting of the Friends of the Oak Ridge Public Library (FOL) will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday in the library. There is no charge. Everyone is invited to attend.

Julie Forkner
Julie Forkner

The program will be a panel discussion consisting of Julie Forkner, library director, who will share about the current and future changes at the library, Ray Smith, city of Oak Ridge Historian and FOL director, who will report on the coordination of Oak History Project being sponsored by FOL, and Erin Elizabeth Smith, poet laureate of Oak Ridge, who will share about her experiences during the past year, as well as future possibilities.

D. Ray Smith, writer for the Historically Speaking column.
D. Ray Smith, writer for the Historically Speaking column.

Forkner grew up in the DeKalb County library system in Atlanta. After soundly establishing her love for books, she left for college in Asheville, N.C, majoring in Environmental Studies. Returning to her grandparents farm in Sweetwater after graduation, she started her own community supported agriculture business and provided 50 families a year with organic vegetables and herbs. With the birth of her daughter in 2004, she returned to her literary roots and earned a master’s in English from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga in 2008 and shortly thereafter went back to school one more time to earn her master's degree in library science from UT Knoxville. She began at the Oak Ridge Public Library in 2016, and became director in 2018.

Erin Elizabeth Smith
Erin Elizabeth Smith

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," plus more. He publishes a weekly Oak Ridge history column in The Oak Ridger called “Historically Speaking.” His most recent film is the documentary, "Ed Westcott – Photographer."

Oak Ridge Poet Laureate Erin Elizabeth Smith is the executive director for Sundress Publications and the Sundress Academy for the Arts in Knoxville. She is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, most recently "DOWN" (SFASU 2020), and her work has appeared in Guernica, Ecotone, Crab Orchard, and Mid-American, among others. Smith is a distinguished lecturer in the English Department at UT Knoxville.

Nancy Hardin will conduct a short business meeting, including the election of new board members before the panel speaks. Refreshments will be served after the meeting.

FOL is a non-profit organization that holds used book sales to raise funds for the Library as well as to recycle publications. FOL 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. Membership forms are available in the Library Lobby. The FOL Facebook page is www.facebook.com/foloakridge.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Friends of Oak Ridge Public Library meeting to feature trio