Tennessee Poet Laureate Margaret Britton Vaughn lives in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. She has been commissioned to write poems for the Tennessee Bicentennial, and the inauguration of Tennessee Governors Don Sundquist and Phil Bredesen. She is a sought-after speaker who reads her poetry at literary festivals, civic gatherings, conventions, academic conferences, churches, libraries, schools, and universities. Also a playwright and a songwriter, Vaughn has written and staged several plays, and has co-written with Andy Landis a full-length musical about the life of Minnie Pearl. Her songs have been recorded by Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Ernest Tubb, and others. In 2004, Shiny Penny Productions released Vaughn's only CD, Southern Voice, featuring recitations from the 1960s and 1970s. Described as a poet of the people, Vaughn says that although the position of poet laureate is not a paid one, "I consider it a treasure to hold."

Robert Sylwester is an Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Oregon who focuses on the educational implications of new developments in science and technology.  He has written 20 books and curricular programs and more than 200 journal articles.  His most recent books are The Adolescent Brain: Reaching for Autonomy (2007, Corwin Press) and How to Explain a Brain: An Educator’s Handbook of Brain Terms and Cognitive Processes (2005, Corwin Press).  He has made more than 1500 conference and in-service presentations on educationally significant developments in brain/stress theory and research. The Education Press Association of America has given him two Distinguished Achievement Awards for his syntheses of cognitive science research, published in Educational Leadership. He writes a monthly column for the Internet journal, Brain Connection (www.brainconnection.com).

Henry Krieger is the Grammy Award winning and Tony/Oscar nominated New York based composer of the Broadway musicals Dreamgirls, The Tap Dance Kid and Side Show. His latest  production, Up In The Air, opened to enthusiastic reviews at the John F. Kennedy Center in February, 2008. Krieger’s musical education began while listening to the strains of Chopin and Liszt flowing from his parents' phonograph. As a young adult, he accompanied his parents to Broadway musicals, where the show-stopping production numbers made an indelible impression that would help to shape his life’s work. He began composing Off-Off Broadway in his early twenties and soon achieved fame for his groundbreaking score for Dreamgirls. In 2004 his production of Lucky Duck, a farcical adaptation of “The Ugly Duckling”, premiered at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. Upcoming projects for 2008 and 2009 include new conceptions of Dreamgirls (Director, Bobby Longbottom) and Side Show (Director, Bill Condon.) Other upcoming projects include Romantic Poetry with playwright-director, John Patrick Shanley and The Flamingo Kid directed by Michael Mayer. (Photo courtesy of Henry Leutwyler)

Sylvia Hyman is a world renowned Nashville artist. During her six years of art studies, 20 years of teaching art, 40 years of studio production, and ninety years of living, she has received numerous grants, fellowships and honors, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Museum for Women in Art, Washington, D.C. Hyman is a virtuoso with clay, creating amazing sculpture in the genre known as super-realism or “trompe l'oeil” (fool the eye). Her clay sculptures are so realistic they not only fool your eyes, they also fool your mind into thinking you are looking at crossword puzzles, maps, musical scores and other documents that communicate human thought. Her list of exhibitions, both national and international, numbers over 200, plus 10 solo exhibitions and a Tennessee State Museum 30-year retrospective in 1995. She has written 25 articles for professional journals and has been the subject of many more.