NEWPORT---New York author and actress Robyne Lee Parrish will be a special guest at Sunday's opening of "A Gathering of Journalists ", the newest exhibit at Newport/Cocke County Museum.

The exhibit highlights the life and work of late novelist Wilma Dykeman, former Newport resident, whose works included The Tall Woman, Return the Innocent Earth, and The French Broad.

At Sunday's grand opening, scheduled to begin at the Newport/Cocke County Community Center, local authors are invited to bring copies of their work to sell and/or autograph.

Parrish's latest work, "Robbie Lee and the Wilds of Houston Valley," is based on the story of her grandmother, Robbie Lee Wilds Bedenbaugh, a native of the Houston Valley community of Del Rio.

The novel, set during the days of the Great Depression, tells the family's story as they weather the times, bolstered by their love of family and faith in God.

Parrish's novel was selected "Book of the Month" by her publisher and has received glowing reviews, including one which likens her to novelist Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Parrish will visit Del Rio and Parrottsville Elementary Schools today, where many of her relatives teach and attend. Tomorrow she will be at East Tennessee Coffee Company for a book signing.

Parrish, who describes herself as being "raised in the Carolinas by a whole bunch of Southerners from Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina," lives in New York City where she writes, teaches, and works as an actress.