The 2023 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture will feature a conversation with director and producer Ashley York and documentary filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon, both will address the portrayal of Appalachian culture in film and discuss their current projects. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is requested but not required.

The lecture is hosted by Friends of the Knox County Public Library, John C. Hodges Society of the University of Tennessee Libraries and UT’s Cinema Studies Program. The lecture honors the late Wilma Dykeman Stokely (1920–2006), a writer, speaker, teacher, historian, environmentalist and longtime friend of the Knox County Public Library.