All event times eastern

MONday
April 8th, 6-7 PM EDT

Location: The Edney Innovation Center

Attention, writers! Come to The Edney Innovation Center to hear from Writers@Work's visiting author for 2024, Harrison Scott Key. His latest book tackles a subject not usually thought of as funny: his wife's affair with a family friend. Through some soul searching and a quest for forgiveness, he learns that humor can be healing, but it's not always the answer. Bring your questions and be prepared for honesty and laughter as he discusses using humor to write about difficult topics. This in-person event is free to the public, and no advance registration is required.

Harrison scott key

Harrison Scott Key is the author of How to Stay Married, Congratulations, Who Are You Again?, and The World's Largest Man, winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Key's humor and nonfiction have appeared in The Best American Travel Writing, Oxford American, Outside, The New York Times, The Bitter Southerner, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Town & Country, The Mockingbird, Salon, Savannah Magazine, Reader's Digest, Image, Southern Living, Gulf Coast, and Creative Nonfiction. He has lectured, talked, read, performed, etc., around the world, at book festivals, bookstores, conferences (for design, writing, religion, medicine, real estate, education), variety shows, radio shows, and universities; he has also given two TEDx talks. Additionally, he has performed stand-up comedy at venues around the U.S. He holds an M.F.A. in creative nonfiction and a Ph.D. in playwriting. Key has worked at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) for most of his career, where he has held appointments as Chair of Liberal Arts, Professor of English, Professor of Writing, and Executive Dean. He lives in Savannah, Georgia, with his wife and three children. His website is www.harrisonscottkey.com.

Thank you for your continued support of the ChattState Humanities Department's Writers@Work program.

History of Writers@Work

In 2011, the Chattanooga State Community College Humanities Department founded Writers@Work (W@W) to enhance the practice of literary analysis in its Composition II classes through the reading of a common novel with a focus on Southern culture and people. It quickly transformed into an annual arts experience that touches the lives of countless people in the greater Chattanooga area.

W@W chooses Southern authors whose works center on life in this region, giving participants a new understanding and appreciation for the culture and arts offered in the South, in their own city, and through the community college that serves it. In a media-driven world that shows a limited, and often stereotyped, view of the South, W@W actively works to showcase and celebrate the diversity and rich culture of the Southern people.

Since its beginnings, W@W has expanded to provide more opportunities for public interaction with visiting authors through dynamic events that are always free to attendees. These events take place in various spotlight locations across the city such as the Chattanooga Aquarium, Bessie Smith Cultural Center, and the Hunter Museum of American Art, where the community can interact with the authors in settings that highlight the best of Chattanooga.

Over the last TWELVE years, W@W has showcased the following authors and their works:

2012 - Terry Kay’s To Dance With the White Dog

2013 - Ishmael Reed’s New and Collected Poems

2014 - Jill McCorkle’s Creatures of Habit

2015 - Rick Bragg’s All Over But the Shoutin’ and Lila Quintero Weaver’s Darkroom: A Memoir in  Black and White

2016 - Ron Rash’s Serena and selected poems from Robert Morgan

2017 - Tayari Jones's Silver Sparrow

2018 - George Singleton’s The Half-Mammals of Dixie

2019 - Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly’s The Tilted World

2020 - Daniel Wallace’s Big Fish

2021 - Jericho Brown’s The Tradition

2022 - Karen Russell’s Orange World and Other Stories

2023 - Ariel Francisco’s A Sinking Ship is Still a Ship

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