October brings vibrant fall colors to Tremont. For three years now, it also brings world-class writers.
The Tremont Writers Conference, begun in 2023, “grew naturally from [our] mission,” according to Erin Rosolina, Marketing Director at Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. “Tremont has always been a place where people come to reconnect with nature and with themselves.”
The annual conference “is about giving writers a space to slow down, to listen deeply, and to translate the experience of being in this incredible landscape into words, or simply find inspiration in the beautiful Smoky Mountains,” Rosolina added.
“We wanted to create a gathering that honors both craft and connection, rooted in the same values that guide all of Tremont’s programs: curiosity, reflection and community.”
Each year, the conference brings renowned writers from around the region to work with local writers in a variety of genres. This year’s “truly remarkable” faculty, Rosolina said, are David Joy, Maurice Manning, Crystal Wilkinson and Karen Spears Zacharias. They “each bring a unique voice and lived experience of rural life, and together they represent a beautiful range of perspectives on what it means to write from and about this region.
The four visiting writers will present a panel for the public on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 5:30 in the Blount County Public Library. The panel, entitled “Writing Rural America,” is a chance for everyone, not just the conference participants, to share in the knowledge and inspiration they provide.
“I think people will really enjoy the honesty and heart [the writers] bring to discussing both the joys and complexities of rural life and Appalachian identity,” Rosolina said. “It’s not just a panel for writers—it’s a celebration of story, place, and community.”
The panel and the conference are special for some of the same reasons that Tremont is special: The beautiful surroundings and the dedicated educational staff.
“It’s rare to find a writer’s event where the setting is as much a teacher as the faculty,” Rosolina said. “Here, the Smokies themselves are part of the curriculum—the fog, the rivers, the quiet trails all inform the creative process.”
This is not just a conference about nature, she added. The writers and faculty “experience it firsthand. Writers spend time with Tremont’s teaching team exploring outdoors and learning the natural and cultural history of this region, deepening both their connection to place and their work on the page.”
Poet Sarah Small participated in the inaugural conference and found it a valuable and enriching experience, so much so that she applied and participated again this year! “Every bit of the conference was constructed to support, encourage, and inspire writers while building community and connections,” she said.
“It was extremely productive and educational!” she added. “The conference far exceeded my expectations.”
For that first conference, she worked with Kentucky poet Frank X. Walker, who she called “terrific.” At each workshop meeting, she said, “He gave us some tools and techniques to consider and several exercises that got our brains working. Throughout each session, he challenged us to consider what work our poems were doing, how they were doing it, and why.”
The program included living dorm-style and eating together, with daytime expeditions through the beautiful Smokies setting and evening readings by the faculty. It all built a sense of community that Small still retains, two years later.
“I had been hungry—for the companionship of other writers, for fellow travelers, for words of wisdom, for feedback,” Small recalled. “When I said my goodbyes, I realized I was stuffed in the best way with ideas, inspiration, hope, feedback, support, reassurance, encouragement and, most importantly, a community of fellow writers.”
That inspiration and support have helped her to grow as a writer, publishing in literary journals, and, recently, a chapbook, Stitches. “Perhaps one of the greatest insights for me was knowing that my writing reached every person in our cohort—that my poems were meaningful beyond my own personal perspective,” Small said. “I felt relieved of impostor syndrome, which tends to rear its ugly head when one is without community.”
The small size and structure of the conference was part of its design, Rosolina explained. “Because we keep the group intentionally small and build in novel experiences for participants to explore and discover together, there’s a sense of true community that develops over the weekend.
Unlike some conference settings, she added, “There’s no sense of competition, but instead collaboration and respect, reinforced by our incredible faculty authors. Writers leave feeling inspired, but also seen and supported.”
That was Small’s experience. “It was truly an honor and a privilege to soak in so many voices, from award-winning authors and those who are just finding and sharpening their voices.”
And while she said she is “excited to experience the Tremont magic again with a whole new set of faculty and a whole new cohort,” she will maintain that initial community as well. She and her 2023 poetry cohort “are in it together for the long run!”
The conference is made possible by a partnership between the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont and Smokies Life, and this weekend’s panel takes place with the support of the Blount County Public Library, the library’s writer-in-residence Sheri McCarter, the Blount County Friends of the Library and Southland Books.
The Anna Belle Smith Literary Conference takes place during the day on Saturday at the library. The conference kicks off at 10 a.m. with a comics writing workshop. The festival continues with hourly programs: Poet Susan O’Dell Underwood at 11 a.m.; Smokies Life‘s Frances Figart on creative nonfiction at noon; and Karen Spears Zacharias and E.J. Wade on collaborative writing at 1 p.m.
Lisa Misosky, owner of Southland, is “beyond thrilled” to be part of the project, and feels “sincere appreciation” to be a supporting vendor at the festival. “We are grateful to Sheri McCarter and to Tremont and Smokies Life for this opportunity to have world-class writers from all over Appalachia be a part of Anna Belle Smith Literary Festival.”
All the festival events are free and open to the public, including the Tremont Writers Conference panel.
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