Singer and songwriter Scott Miller opens the spring semester slate of Writers in the Library at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on January 14.

Writers in the Library is sponsored by the University of Tennessee Libraries and the Creative Writing Program in the UT Department of English. The series brings various writers to campus throughout the year to read from their work.

Writers in the Library began in 1999 and is managed by the UT Libraries Jack E. Reese Writer-in-Residence. The current Writer-in-Residence is RB Morris, a singer, songwriter and poet from Knoxville. This is his last semester in the position.

“The position of Jack E. Reese Writer-in-Residence has been a tremendous honor for me and has allowed me to come in contact with a lot of great writers,” Morris said.

The following is the spring schedule for Writers in the Library. All events begin at 7 p.m. in the Lindsay Young Auditorium in Hodges Library.

* Jan. 14 – Scott Miller
* Jan. 28 – John McManus
* Feb. 11 – MariJo Moore
* Feb. 25 – Julie Auer and Steven Dupree
* March 10 – Michael Knight
* March 24 – Linda P. Marion and Judy Loest
* April 14 – student recipients of the John C. Hodges Graduate Writing Prizes in fiction and poetry
* April 21 – group reading; writers to be announced later

Miller fronts the Knoxville band Scott Miller and the Commonwealth. The group’s latest album “Reconstruction” was recorded live in Johnson City and released in 2007. For more information, visit http://www.thescottmiller.com/.

“One of things I’ve tried to add to the mix is the tradition of songwriters as poets, which I believe is prevalent if not dominant part of the current ‘poetic voice’ in our culture,” Morris said. “Along those lines we are starting the series off this spring with Scott Miller, a local songwriter with a growing international following.”

McManus, who is a visiting writer at UT this spring, is author of the novel “Bitter Milk.” In 2000, he was presented the Whiting Writers Award for fiction.

Moore’s published works include “Spirit Voices of Bones,” “The Diamond Doorknob” and “Feeding the Ancient Fires: A Collection of Writings by North Carolina American Indians.” For more information, visit http://www.marijomoore.com/.

Julie Auer, a member of the Knoxville Writers’ Guild, is a lawyer by profession and uses her insight to write about crime and punishment. Steven Dupree is a local actor and journalist.

Michael Knight, UT associate professor of creative writing, recently had a new novel published. “The Holiday Season” is a book of two novellas set during the holidays.

Judy Loest and Linda Parsons Marion are both prize-winning poets. Linda Marion is poetry editor of “Now & Then” magazine.

The Writers in the Library series is sponsored by the University of Tennessee Libraries and the Creative Writing Program of the UT English Department. For further information, please contact Jo Anne Deeken, head of technical services, UT Libraries, at 974-6905 or jdeeken@utk.edu, or R.B. Morris, Jack E. Reese writer in residence, UT Libraries, at 974-3004 or rbmorris@utk.edu.