A double book giveaway for the 50th edition. Celebrating Flannery O’Connor’s birthday with a hometown parade. Ron Rash goes to Hollywood. Spring writers conferences and book festivals in Literary Events. And an essay about finding “Glory” in Mississippi. Happy Literary Friday!

Held October 27 on the grounds of and inside the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana Book Festival was a wonderful way to spend a sunny, chilly day.

This Saturday, October 27, Louisiana’s State Library in Baton Rouge and the Louisiana Center for the Book host the Louisiana Book Festival – a free literary celebration with 148 authors and more than 100 programs.

Today, the Southern Festival of Books announced its full lineup, and all I can say is mark your calendar for October 12-14 in Nashville. And, oh yeah, it’s free!

A review of the first-ever biography of John Kennedy Toole PLUS a Twitter chat with the author today. A Southern Sin Essay Contest. Stephen Colbert remembers Maurice Sendak. Florida county libraries ban “Fifty Shades of Grey” and more literary news. Book giveaways and a new story in Southern Voice about a conversation between mother and daughter. It’s Literary Friday!