September 7, 2011 George Scarbrough (1915-2008) was born the third of seven children in in a clapboard cabin in Patty, a small community in Polk County, Tennessee. Strongly influenced by his literate mother, he was an avid reader from his earliest years and studied at Lincoln Memorial University, the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and the University of the South in Sewanee. As farmer, librarian, and teacher he lived his entire life in East Tennessee, for many years in Oak Ridge. His poetry was published widely in magazines and journals, and he is the author of five books of poems and one novel, all of which established his position as a major figure in American literature. Under the Lemon Tree, a new collection of previously unpublished poems by George Scarbrough, will appear this fall from Iris Press, and Robert Cumming, the book’s editor, will discuss George Scarbrough and his work at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville.

September 6, 2011 Amanda Auchter is the founding editor of Pebble Lake Review and the author of The Glass Crib (winner of the Zone 3 Press First Book Award for Poetry, judged by Rigoberto González). Her writing has appeared in American Poetry Review, Best New Poets, Indiana Review, The Iowa Review, Pleiades, Poetry Daily, and elsewhere. She holds an M.F.A from Bennington College and teaches creative writing and literature at Lone Star College. Auchter will read from The Glass Crib at an awards ceremony on September 15 in Gentry Auditorium on the Austin Peay State University campus in Clarksville. The reading begins at 4 p.m.