In her book East Tennessee Newsmakers, columnist Georgiana Vines pays tribute to 47 remarkable individuals and their contributions to Knoxville and the history, civic and cultural life, and politics of East Tennessee. Anyone who has resided in the region knows that it derives its glow from its people— the ones who built it and stayed true to it over the years. Join Ms. Vines for a lively discussion featuring updated stories of the people covered over her career; a discussion facilitated by her former colleague and friend, John North.

About the Speakers

Georgiana Vines is a retired associate editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel, for which she still writes a political column every two weeks. Her career as a reporter/editor at the News Sentinel began in 1968; she has lived in Knoxville since, except for 1996-97, when edited the now-defunct El Paso Herald-Post in Texas. She was 1992-93 national president of the Society of Professional Journalists; is an ex officio board member of the East Tennessee Pro Chapter of SPJ and Front Page Foundation; a past chair of the Clarence Brown Theatre advisory board, and has taught at the University of Tennessee’s School of Journalism and Electronic Media. She received the Wells Key, national Society of Professional Journalists, 1996; Lifetime Achievement Award, East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame, sponsored by Friends of Literacy, 2015, and 50-Year Club, Tennessee Press Association, 2016.

John North has been a journalist since 1982, starting with stints at Kansas City’s morning and afternoon papers. He moved to Knoxville in 1993 to report for the Knoxville News Sentinel. In 2000 he moved to Atlanta to work for CNN for 2 ½ years. He missed Tennessee so much that he moved back in 2002 to be an editor/manager for the next 12 years at the News Sentinel. He’s been at WBIR-TV since 2014, working as a manager, reporter, mentor and co-moderator of the weekly public affairs program “Inside Tennessee” with his friend John Becker. During his career he’s received local, state and national journalism awards, most recently winning a regional Edward R. Murrow Award with co-worker Leslie Ackerson and a national Murrow with WBIR’s digital team.