The second biennial Chattanooga Festival of Writers was March 28 and 29, 2008. Thanks to everyone who attended and volunteered. It was a great event!
Let us know what you thought: take the event survey.
Listen to audio podcast of an interview with our guest writers.
Press Release: February 1, 2022
The AEC is pleased to announce the 2008 Chattanooga Festival of Writers guest speakers and schedule. Among the line up of participating guest writers you will non-fiction and fiction writers, playwrights and screenwriters, even freelance journalists and business writers.
The AEC created the Chattanooga Festival of Writers in 2006 in response to increasing requests for a literary event in the off-years of its biennial Conference on Southern Literature.
"Since 1981, we have presented the AEC Conference on Southern Literature biennially, and for years we had regulars telling us that two years was too long to wait," said Susan Robinson, executive director of the AEC. "So we set out to create an event for the off years that would complement the AEC Conference."
Known for its unique partnership with the prestigious Fellowship of Southern Writers, the AEC Conference brings literary legends to Chattanooga for three days of discussions, readings, and book signings. In turn, the Festival of Writers is a smaller event that focuses on the craft of writing through a Friday night keynote address, and Saturday workshops, readings, and panel discussions.
"We call the Conference on Southern Literature a writers' conference for readers, because it's a gathering of world famous writers who are there for the readers, not just to meet with their fellow writers,” says Robinson. By the same token, the Festival of Writers is designed as a series of conversations on the craft of writing that can be enjoyed by both writers and non-writers."
When AEC first presented the Festival in 2006, all 300 seats available were sold out. To expand this year’s program, the Saturday workshops will extend into the afternoon and take place in a larger venue – the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Yet, Robinson says registration will still be limited in order to maintain the event’s intimate setting. “We want attendees to be able to have conversations with our writers."
###
