The Bill Peach Franklin Book Festival returns Saturday, June 8 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday, June 9 from 1:30 – 5 p.m. at the Williamson County Public Library (WCPL).
Presented by Authors Circle of Middle Tennessee and WCPL, the 4th annual festival includes instructional presentations on writing, publishing and marketing; featured speakers; panel discussions; and book sales and signings with 30 or more authors. The festival is free to all, and the public is invited to this celebration of the written word.
About the Bill Peach Franklin Book Festival
The Franklin book festival was organized and led by the late Bill Peach. After his death in December 2023, his dream lives on in this year’s event, renamed in his honor. Mr. Peach was author of six books, a longtime Franklin merchant, school board member, former political candidate, and “Main Street Philosopher,” who was always open to a good conversation at Merridee’s in his beloved downtown Franklin.
Panels this year are: Children’s/Middle Grade; Short Stories; Mystery / Crime; Historical Fiction; Science Fiction / Fantasy – Thriller / Horror; Romance; Nonfiction; Creative Nonfiction; Poetry. Aspiring writers, established authors, and readers are welcome to attend. A schedule of all participating authors is here and a schedule of authors by genre is here. Featured authors include:
- Steven Womack, Edgar and Shamus Award-winning author, created the groundbreaking Music City Murders series which was the first series to put Nashville on the map as a setting for the mystery genre. He is also the author of a number of other novels, including the New York Times Notable Book Murphy’s Fault.
- Kristin O’Donnell Tubb is the author of 11 books for middle grade readers, including Fowl Play; The Decomposition of Jack; Luna Howls at the Moon; Zeus, Dog of Chaos; The Story Collector series, and A Dog Like Daisy.
- Jaden (Beth) Terrell is the author of the Nashville-based Jared McKean private detective series, is a contributor to ITW’s Big Thrill magazine, and has served as chapter president for Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She offers live and online workshops and courses for fiction writers.
- Jim Nesbitt is the award-winning author of four hard-boiled Texas crime thrillers that feature battered but relentless Dallas PI Ed Earl Burch: The Last Second Chance, The Right Wrong Number, The Best Lousy Choice and The Dead Certain Doubt.
- Amy Cipolla Barnes is the award-winning author of three short-story collections: Ambrotypes, Mother Figures and Child Craft. She has words at X-R-A-Y Lit, SmokeLong Quarterly, McSweeney’s and many others.
The festival is a two-day, come-and-go or come-and-stay event.
