Authors from the new Knoxville Bound anthology will read at Writers in the Library on Monday, February 21 at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Just over a year ago, Knoxville author Judy Loest heard a story on NPR about French Quarter Fiction, a new anthology made up entirely of stories set in New Orleans.

Although Knoxville is much smaller, not as infamous, and not as old, Loest thought, “We can do that, too.” Soon, a call for submissions went out and the proverbial ball started rolling.

Loest, along with Cumberland Avenue Revisited author Jack Rentfro and a collection of Knoxville Writers’ Guild volunteers, sifted through hundreds of submissions. The result is a hefty but elegantly designed volume that succeeds in wrapping its literary arms around a city.

To some contributors, Knoxville is a big, dangerous city, a bewildering Gomorrah of panhandlers, drug dealers, cross-dressers. To others, it’s all interstate exits and chain stores; or a slow-paced place to encounter quaint country folk.