Pulitzer finalist Rebecca Makkai to headline APSU’s Zone 3 Writers’ Festival
By: Andrea Kestie April 9, 2026
Works of literature on display at Austin Peay State University’s inaugural Zone 3 Writers’ Festival and Book Fair. | Photo by Herzel Sireci
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University’s Zone 3 Press, with support from the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, is hosting the second annual Zone 3 Writers' Festival on campus from April 16-18.
The multi-day festival was organized by students in APSU’s Zone 3 Internship course and will welcome writers from across the country, including Pulitzer Prize finalist Rebecca Makkai, her guests, Kim Brooks and Jessie Van Eerden, and Zone 3 Journal Editor’s Prize winners Francesca Leader, Nicole Yurcaba, and Jacob Vaus.
"This year's festival is built on the foundation of last year's, which was the first annual writers' festival hosted by Zone 3," said Dakota Donahue, a student intern for the Zone 3 Writers' Festival. "We're using last year's production as a template, but we've also taken last year's attendees' experiences into account through a survey we sent out, so though last year was a great success, we are always looking for ways to improve. We hope the community is as excited about it as we are."
Attendees can expect a diverse program of craft talks, generative workshops, panel discussions, and readings for writers at all career stages.
“I am excited to support this year’s Zone 3 Writers’ Festival and contribute to our vibrant writing community,” said Alison Harris, a student intern for the Zone 3 Writers’ Festival.
Schedule of Events
Thursday, April 16
-
Rebecca Makkai reception/reading/author talk: 6 p.m., Mabry Concert Hall
Friday, April 17
-
Registration: 8:30 a.m., Morgan University Center
-
Book Fair: 9 a.m. - 3:20 p.m., Morgan University Center Ballroom
-
Zone 3 Writers’ Festival panels and workshops: 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., various
Saturday, April 18
-
Reception and refreshments: 9:30 a.m., Art + Design Room 120
-
Tennessee’s Emerging Creative Writers Contest Ceremony: 10 a.m., Art + Design Room 120
Registration and events are free and open to the public, though attendees are asked to bring a donation to APSU's Paws to Care if able. Attendees can also enjoy the Department of Theatre & Dance's production of LIZZIE: The Musical the night of the conference at a discounted rate ($5 off with proof of conference registration). Tickets for the production can be purchased online here.
Sample panels include discussions about writing community, storytelling, and more. Cresta McGowan, an instructor in the Department of Languages and Literature, will lead Criminal Minds: Writing Memory into Crime. This generative writing workshop will explore how memory shapes motive, character, and narrative tension in crime writing.
Suspense thriller author Chrissy Hicks will present Not All Rejections Are Equal: Resilience and Recovery for Writers. Attendees will practice a “rejection rewrite” exercise—turning one real or imagined rejection into an actionable next step—and receive a personal resilience checklist for future setbacks.
Additional interdisciplinary panels will cover topics such as ekphrastic writing, writing for film, and “Building Cultural Memory: Where Character Meets World,” presented by APSU’s Tabletop Roleplay Gaming Club. The full schedule is available here.
To learn more about Zone 3 Press, contact Dr. Raymond Deeren, co-coordinator of APSU’s Creative Writing program, at deerenr@apsu.edu.
About the Acuff Chair of Excellence
In 1985, country music legend Roy Acuff generously established an endowment to enrich the arts community at APSU and in Clarksville-Montgomery County. The result was the Roy Acuff Chair of Excellence, which brings regionally and nationally acclaimed artists to APSU to share their expertise with students and the community in a dynamic atmosphere of unrestricted experimentation. The Acuff Chair rotates between APSU's four creative arts areas—Art + Design, Creative Writing, Music, Theatre & Dance—and has been filled each year with residencies by nationally and internationally known artists since its inception.
About the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts
Since 1985, the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA, or "seek-ah") has been providing students, the Clarksville community, and the Middle Tennessee region with engaging experiences through the Art + Design, Creative Writing, Music, and Theatre & Dance programs at APSU. CECA brings as many as 85 guest artists to Clarksville each year and presents up to 100 public arts and culture events annually, including concerts, exhibitions, artist lectures, master classes, artist residencies, and more. In addition, CECA provides the arts faculty at APSU with research opportunities to enhance their professional growth as well as numerous student scholarships each year to support APSU's own emerging artists. To learn more about CECA, contact Dr. Andrea Spofford at spofforda@apsu.edu.