StoryTellerZine

  Featured Poet DAVID NEWTON BAKER by J. Smith Kirkland David Newton Baker lives in Monteagle on the Cumberland Plateau, where I met him at the a spoken word night at the Blue Chair in Sewanee, TN. I came to know him as a brilliant poet and essayist. As we talked more on spoken word nights, I learned he is also an accomplished musician, composer, and music producer. His work has been aired on ABC, PBS Kids, TLC, and the Disney Channel. Some of David's works take us back to familiar times, and some echo the collective concerns of current situations. He uses humor and plucks heart strings to connect the reader to emotions and memories. David is also a singer-songwriter who has produced two studio albums. He has recently returned to performing publicly in Sewanee and the surrounding areas. This issue of StoryTeller zine includes two works from his latest book “Haunting My Own House, Poems By David Newton Baker”. We appreciate David taking time to answer some questi...

  Featured Writer Michael Gray by J. Smith Kirkland Michael Gray grew up on a dairy farm in Morristown in East Tennessee. I met him in Chattanooga as a member of a poets group. But it wasn't long before I learned his only storytelling outlet was not poetry. Mike first performed as a spoken word artist in1984, presenting an original piece at The Knoxville Barbeque Contest . But if you are a Chattanooga local, you may know him as the host of The River City Sessions. As producer, director and performer he developed the concept for The River City Sessions, which was a monthly event at The Camp House, and later continued at UTC and The Granfalloon. It was a collaboration of poets, authors, story tellers, and musicians whose work honors life in the south and the tradition of southern literature and music. The show was broadcast on WUTC 88.1 locally and across the internet on WUTC.org two weeks after the live show. Michael has also been on the air a few times performing...

  Featured Writer Jerry Harwood by J. Smith Kirkland Jerry Harwood grew up in Chattanooga and attended Baylor. He is married and has six children and teaches in Sale Creek now. He will tell you that he has worked six different jobs including Camp Director, College Professor, Restaurant owner, CADCII Counselor and Program Director, and Middle School Teacher. He says you’ll have to ask about the sixth one. Jerry has travelled extensively, to Rwanda in the late 90's, teaching at a communist university in Ukraine, backpacking Europe. He has many accolades, being an honorary member of the Black Student Union in college, being accepted as a member of a women's theological group, and was once a dues paying girl scout. In his spare time he has pursued the hobbies of being a volunteer fireman and writing. He has written books in multiple genres: Young Adult, SciFi, Romance... When he takes up a “hobby”, he goes full in and excels at it. I first met him at Con Noo...