“In the Car with Mother” won first place in the Creative Nonfiction category of the Knoxville Writers’ Guild 2008 awards. This piece is about a two-hour trip along the winding roads from Waynesboro to Nashville, as my mother and I travel from her house to mine on Christmas Eve. It is about family and memories, change and loss, as we make the familiar journey from my hometown to my present home. It is about the time in our lives when daughters have to take care of their mothers, and mothers begin to slip away, and every moment is precious, especially at Christmas.
Knoxville Writers’ Guild Award
by phyllisgobbell
I write a little bit of everything - fiction, nonfiction, and sometimes even poetry. For twenty years I served on the English faculty at Nashville State Community College, where I taught composition, literature, and creative writing. I was editor of the literary magazine, Tetrahedra, for eight years, and it was one of the joys of my career to see student writers get their first opportunity to be published. I earned my B.S. in Education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and received my M.A. in English from Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee. My home is Nashville, close to my two daughters and their families. I like to play tennis and play the piano. Tuesday nights, I meet with a writers group that I've been in for more years than I will say!