SEVIERVILLE — Sevierville’s Rose Glen Literary Festival, produced by the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce, will offer a venue for some of East Tennessee’s best local writers to sell and sign books while also featuring new and innovative programming from nationally recognized authors. The festival will take place Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the Sevierville Convention Center.
The luncheon keynote speaker will be Jenny Hale, a USA Today, Amazon, and international bestselling author of romantic contemporary fiction. Her books have sold worldwide, been translated into multiple languages, and adapted for television. The Beach House, released in 2021 sailed to number three on the Amazon Kindle Chart and it hit number one in the categories of Contemporary Romance, Women’s Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction and Romance. Her novels Coming Home for Christmas and Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses are Hallmark original movies. She was included in Oprah Magazine’s “19 Dreamy Summer Romances to Whisk You Away” and both Southern Living’s “30 Christmas Novels to Start Reading Now” and “Beach Reads Perfect for Summer 2020.”
Other notable speakers at the event include Nancy East (Chasing the Smokies Moon: An audacious 948-mile hike fueled by love, loss, laughter, and lunacy), Bo Roberts (Forever Young), Tala Shatara (Finding Plan B), and Marilyn Mascaro (Surviving History: The Life of B.Y. Harris in East Tennessee).
Authors returning by popular demand this year include Dr. Bill Bass, author of the widely acclaimed Body Farm Series, Knoxville News-Sentinel columnist and humorist Sam Venable (Someday I May Find Honest Work: A Newspaper Humorist’s Life), naturalist Stephen Lyn Bales (Ephemeral by Nature), and Art Bohanan (Prints of a Man).
New this year is the Student Poetry Slam featuring poetry readings by local high school students, representing every high school in Sevier County. The first prize winner of the poetry contest will deliver the winning poem during the luncheon.
A workshop hosted by Laura Still and Brent Minchey of Celtic Cat Publishing will offer tips and answer questions on how to get published.
“The first Rose Glen Literary Festival was 13 years ago, and we have seen it grow into a regionally recognized literary event,” says event organizer and Sevierville Chamber of Commerce historian Carroll McMahan. “This year’s event again offers a line-up of stellar speakers covering a wide array of topics, so we are expecting a great turnout.”
Vendors will include booksellers, publishers, and organizations such as Friends of the King Family Library, Celtic Cat Publishing, and Moon Pie General Store and Book Warehouse.
Additional authors will be available to meet the public and sign copies of their works throughout the event. The keynote luncheon featuring author Jenny Hale is $25 per person. All other activities are free thanks to event sponsors including the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce, LeConte Medical Center Covenant Health, Friends of the King Family Library, Smoky Mountain Living, Moon Pie General Store and Book Warehouse, Smokies Investors Real Estate, Sevierville Convention Center, WATE-TV Channel 6, and Sevier County Public Library.
Purchase luncheon tickets online at www.RoseGlenFestival.com or call the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce at 865-453-6411.
