The luncheon serves as the kickoff for the Kuumba Festival, the largest African American Cultural Arts Festival in East Tennessee.

The East Tennessee History Fair includes a living history timeline, live music, historic crafts demonstrations, historic and genealogical groups from across the region, children’s crafts and activities, Davy Crockett’s birthday party, walking tours of downtown, free museum admission, Civil War bus tours and tours of Knoxville’s historic homes, “History Hound” dog costume contest, food, museum tours, “Smoky Mountain Film Festival” at the Tennessee Theatre, genealogy workshops and book signings, vintage baseball games at World’s Fair Park, farmers' market and more. The…

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and News Sentinel columnist Sam Venable will host the launch luncheon for "From Papers to Pixels," the campaign to digitize the historic archives of The Knoxville News-Sentinel. The Knox County Public Library Foundation is spearheading the effort. Invitations were sent, and the public is welcome to attend. Donations will be accepted.

A preview reception will be held for the groundbreaking exhibition of works by Knoxville's renowned artist Lloyd Branson (1853-1925). The "Celebrating a Life in Tennessee Art" exhibit will be on display Nov. 7, 2015, to March 20, 2016. The preview reception ends at 6 p.m., and the venue will be open for "First Friday."

The "Stop the Violence Against Women & Girls" forum by the Women's Fund of East Tennessee is a members' only event, plus their guests. Wine and heavy hors d'oeuvres will be served. Gov. Bill Haslam will be in attendance.

Knox Heritage will hold a benefit to raise funds to preserve the Lloyd Branson House. The event will feature wine and a cocktail supper and the chance to view previously unexhibited Branson works. Local Branson experts Adam Alfrey and Jack Neely will speak.  

"An Evening with Author Sharyn McCrumb," hosted by Friends of the Knox County Public Library and the East Tennessee Historical Society, features a light reception (starting at 6:30 p.m.) with the New York Times bestselling author. McCrumb will discuss her new novel, "Prayers the Devil Answers," which tells the story of Ellie Robbins who is appointed to serve out the term of her late husband as sheriff of their rural Tennessee mountain town during the later years of the Great Depression.…

Washington Post reporter and author Dan Zak will discuss his new book, "Almighty: Courage, Resistance, and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age," which begins in 2012 when a trio of elderly peace activists infiltrated the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signature. Seating is limited; advance registration is encouraged.

The East Tennessee History Fair includes a living history timeline, live music, historic crafts demonstrations, historic and genealogical groups from across the region, children’s crafts and activities, Davy Crockett’s birthday party, walking tours of downtown, free museum admission, Civil War bus tours and tours of Knoxville’s historic homes, “History Hound” dog costume contest, food, museum tours, “Smoky Mountain Film Festival” at the Tennessee Theatre, genealogy workshops and book signings, vintage baseball games at World’s Fair Park, farmers’ market and more. The…

Leadership Knoxville will host an opening reception for the 2016 fall class. Light fare and wine will be served.

After the death of renowned writer and environmentalist Wilma Dykeman Stokely in 2006, a typewritten manuscript was discovered among her papers. To celebrate its publication, her sons, Jim and Dykeman Stokely, will speak at the East Tennessee History Center. The event, which is is free, is made possible by Friends of the Knox County Public Library, Union Ave Books, the Library Society of UT, the East Tennessee Historical Society and the Knox County Public Library. Copies of the memoir, "Family of Earth:…

Leadership Knoxville's Introduction Knoxville will hold a welcome reception for its Winter Class of 2017. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

Friends of the Knox County Public Library and The Library Society of UT Knoxville will host an evening with author Amy Greene at the East Tennessee History Center. Greene will present the 2017 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture. Greene is the author of two novels, Bloodroot and Long Man. Greene currently is working on a third novel. Copies of Greene’s books will be available for purchase, and the author will sign books after the lecture.

Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Spring Class of 2017. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

Friends of the Knox County Public Library will host an evening with author Nathaniel Philbrick at the East Tennessee History Center. Philbrick will discuss his book, "Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution." Philbrick won the National Book Award in 2000 for "In the Heart of the Sea," about an 1820 whaleship rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. That book was adapted into a major motion picture starring Chris Hemsworth. Seating is limited.…

The Knox County Public Library, in partnership with the Jane L. Pettway Foundation, Knox County Public Library Foundation and the University of Tennessee College of Communication and Information, will hold an opening reception and VIP dinner with UT Torchbearer Wendell Potter, a New York Times best-selling author who wrote "Deadly Spin" and "Nation on the Take" and the founder of Tarbell.org. The "Evening with Wendell Potter," which is free will follow from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Bijou Theatre,…

Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Fall Class of 2017. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

Friends of the Knox County Public Library will host an evening with author Denise Kiernan at the East Tennessee History Center. A wine and cheese reception will be held at 6 p.m., followed by Kiernan speaking at 7 p.m. about her latest work, "The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home." The book takes readers on a well-researched journey through the Gilded Age. Spanning wars, financial crises and great tragedy, the author tells the…

The Friends of the Knox County Public Library will present: "Unbroken Circle: Stories of Cultural Diversity in  the South," an anthology by Julia Watts and co-editor Larry Smith. The stories challenge stereotypes and show that people of the South are as varied as the region’s landscape. The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Knox County Public Library, Knox County Public Library and the East Tennessee Historical Society. Watts and six contributors will be present: poet and author James E.…

Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold congratulations reception for its Winter Class of 2018. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

Friends of Knox County Public Library, the Knox County Public Library, Union Ave Books, the East Tennessee Historical Society and WUOT will host an evening with award-winning journalist and writer Elaine Weiss. Weiss will speak about and sign copies of her latest book, The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote, which will be released March 6. Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero will introduce Weiss at the event. Tickets go on sale to the public Feb. 12. Ticketholders may purchase copies of The Woman’s Hour at the event at a 10…

Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Spring Class of 2018. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

Veteran journalist and storyteller Vince Vawter will talk about "Copyboy," the sequel to his Newbery Honor Book, "Paperboy." The sequel has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild selection. The event, which is sponsored by Friends of the Knox County Public Library, WUOT and Union Ave Books, is free and open to the public. Copies of the author’s books will be available for purchase and signing. Vawter has a 40-year career in newspapers, including with the The Knoxville News-Sentinel where…

Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Fall Class of 2018. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Winter Class of 2019. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

Join authors Ginny Ayers Savage and Jessica Wilkerson for a conversation about women-led social justice movements in Appalachia.  The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by Friends of the Knox County Public Library, Union Ave Books, Knox County Public Library, and East Tennessee Historical Society.  In To Live Here, You Have to Fight, Wilkerson tells the stories of the women in Appalachia who acted as leaders and soldiers in a grassroots war on poverty in the 1960s and 1970s and…

Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Spring Class of 2019. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

The Friends of the Knox County Public Library Annual Meeting will hold its annual meeting to vote on the vote on the proposed 2019–20 slate of officers and directors. The guest speaker will be Marilyn Kallet, Knoxville's Poet Laureate. Light hors d’oeuvres and sweets from Rothchild Catering, plus tea, coffee and wine will be available. To RSVP, email [email protected] by Wednesday, July 10.

Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Fall Class of 2019. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

The Front Page Foundation will celebrate and honor past Front Page Follies honorees in an intimate gathering where past honorees and participants can reunite and also provide feedback to the foundation regarding the future of the Follies. The event includes heavy hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and live music. Register HERE.

Al Tompkins, a senior faculty member at The Poynter Institute, journalist and writer, will lead a community forum to address the proliferation of fake news and how the media and public can recognize it and respond. Tompkins has won numerous accolades for his journalistic, including the National Emmy, Peabody Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Award. The free event is sponsored by the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Tennessee Association of Broadcasters and University of Tennessee…

This special holiday event showcases Christmas in Knoxville throughout the years. Jack Neely, executive director of the Knoxville History Project, will share Knoxville holiday stories from the past. Paul James, director of development for the Knoxville History Project, will feature vintage film footage of Knoxville Christmas parades from the vaults of the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image & Sound (TAMIS). This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to Hollie at [email protected].

Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Winter Class of 2020. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

(As a proactive measure against the COVID-19 virus, this event has been postponed until Aug. 5) Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Spring Class of 2020. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

(As a proactive measure against the COVID-19 virus, this event has been postponed until Aug. 5.) Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Spring Class of 2020. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual. (This event was rescheduled from April 15.)

(As a proactive measure against COVID-19, this event has been canceled in 2020.) Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Spring Class of 2020, an event twice postponed because of COVID-19. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual. (This event had been rescheduled from April 15 and June 3.)

(As a proactive measure against COVID-19, this event has been canceled in 2020.) Leadership Knoxville’s Introduction Knoxville will hold an invitation-only welcome reception for its Fall Class of 2020. Alumni of Leadership Knoxville and Introduction Knoxville are invited to attend. Alumni are asked to RSVP at [email protected]. Attire is business/business casual.

A reception will be held to celebrate the 2022 Graduating Class of Leadership Knoxville Scholars in a partnership with the University of Tennessee. Light fare, beer and wine will be served. The event is open to all Leadership Knoxville alumni from all classes.

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs will host a community discussion with author Sam Quinones on his book, "The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth." The book is a follow-up to "Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic," Quinones’ earlier work about the genesis of the opioid crisis. Both books are critically acclaimed and in January 2022, "The Least of Us" was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award…

In her new book "Title IX, Pat Summitt, and Tennessee’s Trailblazers," Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel introduces readers to past and present pioneers in women’s sports. Enjoy an evening book talk and roundtable discussion with key trailblazers Dr. Joan Cronan, Ann Baker Furrow and Missy Kane. Additional trailblazers will be present for questions and book signing. Pethel is an assistant professor of honors and global leadership studies at Belmont University and the executive director of NashvilleSites.org. She is a graduate of…

Author and storyteller Carolyn Finney will be the featured speaker at the 2024 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the John C. Hodges Society of UT Libraries and Friends of the Knox County Public Library. Finney returned to school after a 15-year absence to complete a B.A., M.A. (both of these degrees focused on gender and environmental issues in Kenya and Nepal, respectively) and Ph.D. (which focused on African Americans and environmental issues in the U.S.). She has been…