East Tennessee PBS, in partnership with the Friends of Literacy invite you to the Great American Read, featuring an advanced screening of this national programming and local authors Marilyn Kallet and Jack Neely. Refreshments will be served. 

Marilyn Kallet is the Poet Laureate of the City of Knoxville and Nancy Moore Goslee Professor of English at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Kellet is the author of 17 books, including recently a translation of Parisian poet Chantal Bizzini’s Disenchanted City; The Love That Moves Me; Packing Light: New and Selected Poems; Circe, After Hours; The Big Game, translation of Surrealist poet Benjamin Peret, 2011, and Last Love Poems of Paul Eluard.

Jack Neely, Executive Director of The Knoxville History Project, is a journalist who has been writing about his hometown’s character and heritage for many years. He has written several books about Knoxville and its history such as The Tennessee Theatre: A Grand Entertainment Palace; Knoxville, Tennessee: Green by Nature; Market Square: A History of the Most Democratic Place on Earth; and Knoxville, Tennessee: This Obscure Prismatic City.

Ticket sales go to support the mission of Friends of Literacy.

The mission of Friends of Literacy is to provide high-quality adult education programs for those in our community who are inadequately educated to meet the challenges of daily life. Our goal is to enable our students to achieve their full potential and become better citizens.

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The Great American Read is an eight-part television and online series designed to spark a national conversation about reading and the books that have inspired, moved, and shaped us. The series will engage audiences with a list of 100 diverse books. Audiences are encouraged to read the books, vote from the list of 100, and share their personal connections to the titles.

Seven new episodes of the series will air in Fall 2018 as the quest to find America’s most beloved book moves into high gear. Episodes from the series will feature appearances by celebrities, athletes, experts, authors, and everyday Americans advocating for their favorite book.

The nation will vote, and ultimately a winner will be declared, finding THE GREAT AMERICAN READ.