Donna Akers
The Highlands Writers Fair returns Saturday, April 9, to the Washington County Public Library in Abingdon. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and spotlights writers from around the region.
“Our 2019 event was a great success,” Greg Lilly, event coordinator, said. “Then the pandemic cancelled the 2020 Writers Fair. We’re excited to bring back an impressive list of accomplished writers in all genres for this year’s event.”
The Highlands Writers Fair is free and open to the public. A collaboration between the Virginia Highlands Festival and the Friends of the Washington County Public Library, the event promotes regional writers and the stories they share.
A jury of publishers, editors, writers and readers selected the participating authors to offer the reading public an assortment of subjects/genres, high-quality books and authors who are serious about their craft – both experienced and emerging.
“This is an opportunity for readers and aspiring authors to talk with our local writers about their inspiration, dedication and path to publication each has maneuvered to bring their books to the public,” Lilly described.
Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellow, Tennessee Williams Scholar at Sewanee, and award-winning poet Edison Jennings will sign copies of his latest book, “Intentional Fallacies.” This collection of Jennings’ poems has received national praise in his deeply personal, yet universal themes of love, loss and letting go.
Christal Presley, PhD, will discuss with attendees and sign her memoir “Thirty Days with My Father – Finding Peace from Wartime PTSD.” She has appeared on more than 100 television and radio shows, including CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, ABC, and NPR. Nikki Giovanni called the book “an incredible memoir...an important part of the still unhealed wounds of war.”
Donna Akers is well-known for her regional history books of such areas as Abingdon, Washington County, Boone, Blowing Rock, and Watauga County. The books are filled with vintage photos of the areas. New York Times best-selling author Sharyn McCrumb said “readers young and old will find a treasure trove of Virginia history” in Akers’ books. Donna Akers will have the answers to your questions about our region’s historic towns.
Local favorite Bunny Medeiros will sign her Damascus book, “Friendliest Town on the Trail,” and her memoir, “Walking to Wijiji...My Journey Overcoming Loneliness.”
Regional novelists will have their books on romance, mystery, historical fiction, southern fiction and children’s fiction. The complete trilogy of Lilly’s “Tales of the Abingdon Wolves” juvenile novellas will be available. “The Wolf Crystal,” “The Shadow Wolf” and “The Guardian Wolf” are all illustrated by Bristol’s Brian and Marie Bridgeforth of Bridgeforth Design Studio. The tales were written for Virginia Highlands Festival’s immersive theater project and are a mash-up of local legends and juvenile fantasy.
“Saturday, April 9, brings in the best of the region’s authors in a celebration of writing and storytelling,” Lilly said. “This is the time to meet our Highlands Writers and read local.”
