Downtown Events

Several well-known and beloved southern authors will be meeting the public and signing their latest books at the 2010 Maury County APTA Christmas Historic Home Tour on Friday, December 3, from Noon - 7pm, and Saturday, December 4, from 10am to 5pm, at the Athenaeum Rectory located at 808 Athenaeum Street. They are Robert Grede, Donna VanLiere, Lisa Patton, Lenore Hart, and David Poyer. Robin Hood and James Crutchfield will be signing copies of their new book, Historic Tennessee, at the James K. Polk Home, located on West 7th Street from 9-11am on Saturday December 4. Local authors Bob Duncan, Wilmoth Foreman, Rick Gray and Julie Gillen will be signing their books at the Maury County library from 9-11am on Saturday December 4. Makky Kaylor will also be signing copies of his book at the Maury County Library on December 4th from 9-11am.

On Friday December 3 beginning at 2pm, meet Rob Grede who is author of The Spur and the Sash, the historical fiction account of his great-great grandfather’s experience in Tennessee as a Union soldier wounded in the Battle of Nashville and assigned to protect a southern plantation in Maury County while convalescing. Grede is the author of several business and marketing books and the president of The Grede Company, consultants in business planning and strategic growth. He lives in Wisconsin.

On Friday December 3 beginning at 3pm, meet Donna VanLiere, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She has published ten titles including The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Blessing, both of which were adapted into movies starring Rob Lowe, Kimberly Williams-Perry and Neil Patrick Harris. Lifetime Television adapted The Christmas Hope (starring Madeline Stowe) and premiered it last year. Donna's latest book, The Christmas Journey is a retelling of the story of the Nativity told through Donna's signature voice and accompanied by moving and beautifully rendered watercolor illustrations throughout.

On Saturday December 4 beginning at 10am, meet Lisa Patton. Lisa is a mom, animal lover and writer who lives in Franklin, Tennessee. The inspiration for her novel Whistlin’ Dixie in a Nor’easter came to her after moving back to the south after living three years in Vermont. The dichotomy of cultures screamed the makings of a good story, so in her spare time between being a single mother and the special events coordinator at Carnton Plantation, she wrote and published a best seller. Today Lisa is working on the sequel among other projects. She lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with her sons Michael and Will, and her Havanese puppy dog Rosie.

On Saturday December 4 beginning at 10am, meet Lenore Hart, author of seven novels, including Waterwoman (Barnes & Noble Discover Award winner), Ordinary Springs, Becky: The Life and Loves of Becky Thatcher, and Black River and, in Norway, SvartFrikt and Sort Elv. Her books for children are T. Rex at Swan Lake and the YA novel The Treasure of Savage Island. Her short stories, memoirs, essays, articles, poetry, lyrics, and reviews have been published and have won awards in the U.S., Canada, and Norway. The Raven’s Bride, a novel based on the marriage of Edgar Allan Poe and his cousin, Virginia Clemm, will be published by St. Martin's Press on 15 February 2011.

On Saturday December 4 beginning at 10am, meet David Poyer. David’s active and reserve naval service included sea duty in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic, Caribbean, and Pacific, and shore duty at the Pentagon, Surface Warfare Development Group, Joint Forces Command, and in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. He began writing in 1976 and is the author of more than 60 books, including The Civil War at Sea trilogy: Fire on the Waters, A Country of our Own, and That Anvil of our Souls.

James Crutchfield and Robin Hood will be signing their new book Historic Tennesseefrom 9-11am on Saturday, December 4, at the James K. Polk Home located on West 7th Street.

James Crutchfield is author of fifty books about various aspects of United States history including ten titles in the "States of America" series. His book, Franklin: Tennessee's Handsomest Town, co-authored with Robert Holladay, is the first comprehensive history of the city to appear in decades. Crutchfield's articles have appeared in many national newspapers and magazines. He has received the prestigious Spur Award and two Stirrup Awards from Western Writers of America and is a two-time award recipient from the American Association for State and Local History.

Robin Hood is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and author of several books about America. He studied painting at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which presented him the Distinguished Alumnus Award during its Centennial Celebration. Hood served as an Army lieutenant in Vietnam before beginning his career with the Chattanooga Free Press, where he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

Bob Duncan is the director of the Maury County archives and our beloved county historian. He is a popular guest speaker on local history and the author of eight books, six on the history of Maury County. Duncan will be at the Maury County Library from 9am to 11am on Saturday, December 4, for you to meet and get an autographed copy of his latest book Born Old in Sin, the last of a series of five on the history of Maury County.

Julie Gillen is a columnist for The Daily Herald and the author of Will the Real Anonymous Mother Please Stand Up? She is also a songwriter and a member of ASCAP. Come meet Julie Gillen at the Maury County Library from 9am to 11am on Saturday, December 4.

Rick Gray will also be at the library book signing. His book, co-authored with Irene Dugger, is entitled Mt. Pleasant and its Neighbors, and was just released by the Mt. Pleasant Museum.

Wilmoth Foreman is also a local author who is a frequent contributor to The Daily Herald. Her book is Summer of the Skunks.

Makky Kaylor and his wife LeAnn are relative newcomers to Columbia, however the quality of a book is not judged by its length and the impact of this dynamic duo has been bigger than most folks who have called Maury County home since birth. First of all Makky and LeAnn own Makky Media, a mostly music related business. Makky is a songwriter and recording artist. LeAnn is Mrs. Maury County and recently competed in the Mrs. Tennessee pageant. But their latest passion is Kicks! Magazine, a slick arts and entertainment publication dedicated to spotlighting all the wonderful, yet sometimes hidden, art and music in our county. Also in the category of new projects for the Kaylors is a restaurant and music venue they hope to open on the square in Columbia. Memphis native William Lawson, once executive chef at the Majestic Grille in Memphis and other restaurants in Oxford, MS, and in east Nashville is slated to be the chef for this new venture. Makky has a book, too, Confessions of a Session Singer. He will be available to sign books at the library on December 4 from 9-11am.

Devon O’Day will be joining the Southern Authors at the APTA Maury Christmas Tour of Homes to sign her new cookbook My Southern Food: A Celebration of the Flavors of the South. Besides being a talented and successful author, Ms. O’Day is also very busy hosting nationally syndicated radio shows, performing voice over work, narrating TV specials, songwriting for Dolly Parton, George Strait, Hank Williams Jr, and others, and founding her own record label, Hippie Chick Twang. She is also fondly remembered for her work with Gerry House and the House Foundation on WSIX.

Tickets for the tour which include the Southern Authors and a viewing of “Southern Belle,” a documentary on the Athenaeum Girls’ School, are $20 and can be purchased in advance at the Athenaeum. Proceeds benefit the APTA and are used to fund scholarships and educational programming available through the historic mansions.

Make your plans now to come out and support our local and visiting authors.