Literary Friday

Our Fall/Winter Reading List comes out next week! Until then, we suggest you read our interview with “Hemingway’s Girl” author Erika Robuck and enter our giveaway for a chance to win a copy of the book and tickets to visit the Hemingway house in Key West. We’ll be chatting with Erika next Friday, September 28, from 1-2 CST on Twitter using the hashtag #southernlit and will announce the giveaway winner then.

Literary News & Blogs

The Huffington Post says if your favorite book is “To Kill A Mockingbird” then you probably attended high school and took an English class while doing so in its What Your Favorite Book Says About You slideshow.

Random House’s Word & Film blog discusses why James Franco may have given up on a film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and who they would cast if the book does ever make it to the screen.

Word & Film also includes Richard Wright’s Black Boy in its post about the allure of literary contraband and books that have been banned over the years as The Perks of Being a Wallflower is set to release in theaters.

Check out Spencer Lewis’s William Faulkner illustration on Tumblr about a chance meeting and sip of bourbon with the author.

The Oxford American has a video of new editor Roger Hodge discussing his vision for the magazine. “It’s a vision of the South, but the South is not just one thing … ”

North Carolina’s new Poet Laureate Joseph Bathanti, a professor of creative writing at Appalachian State University, was installed during a public celebration this week. Watch him read his poem, “Burn Season,” about living in an old shotgun house with the only heat source being three woodstoves, below.

Deep South Twitter friend Bonnie B. Latino’s new romance novel, “Your Gift to Me,” got a great review from The Tampa Tribune, which calls it “an accurate, smart and sensitive look at military lives and military wives.”

Inside the App: North Carolina’s Grove Park Inn

As this Asheville hotel hosts its F. Scott Fitzgerald weekend through Sunday, we thought it would be fitting to give y’all a peek into the literary landmark’s app entry. Fitzgerald stayed here in the mid-1930s while Zelda was in a nearby hospital. His old room, No. 441, is open for tours, and guests can also book the Gatsby or Fitzgerald Suite decorated to the height of the Jazz Age. This weekend, visitors can take part in a poetry contest, cooking demonstrations and have a Great Gatsby Ale at the bar.

To find out more about Southern authors’ haunts and hangouts, download the Deep South Literary Trail App, now available direct from iTunes and for Android.

Upcoming Literary Events

100,000 Poets for Change events take place worldwide September 29. In the South, activities include an event at Cafe Istanbul in New Orleans, poets and music event in Nashville at Centennial Park and poetry readings at Java Cabana Coffeehouse in Memphis. See the Poets for Change blog for more details and a listing of events in other cities.

The deadline to register for Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival’s Writers Workshop is October 1. Limited to 10 people, the workshop will be held November 3 at the Hotel Monteleone and will be taught by industry professionals. The cost is $150.

Monroeville, Alabama, presents two evenings of Mystery, Murder & Mayhem October 4 and 11 at historic Hybart House. The audience participation murder mystery dinner theater will feature icons and characters from the town’s literary heritage, including Mayella Ewell from “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Dolly Talbo from Truman Capote’s “Grass Harp,” Holly Golightly from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and Fannie Flagg’s Evelyn Couch from “Fried Green Tomatoes.” Tickets are $30 and must be reserved by September 28.

The Grand Festival of Art & Books will take place October 5-6 in Fairhope, Alabama, with more than 150 authors and exhibitors will be participating.

Scheduled for October 12-14, the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville will include Gillian Flynn, Lauren Groff, Kimberly Brock, Lydia Netzer, Ron Rash and Bobbie Ann Mason.

The Louisiana Book Festival will be held October 27 in Baton Rouge at the State Capitol. This festival hasn’t announced their lineup yet, but we’ve heard Cory MacLauchlin, Rick Bragg (pictured), Ron Rash and Wiley Cash will be there. See their banner ad at the top for more info.

The Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, will hold its annual Halloween Bash on the grounds the evening of October 31. Dress in the theme of “Mobsters and Monsters.” Tickets are $25.

A Flannery O’Connor Symposium, co-sponsored by Deep South, is scheduled for November 9-10 in Lafayette, Louisiana, on the UL Lafayette campus. We’ll be releasing more details as it gets closer to the event.

Also the weekend of November 9-10 is the Georgia Literary Festival at the new Jekyll Island Convention Center, which will include Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, Chef Hugh Acheson, Mary Kay Andrews and Steve Berry.

The Dahlonega Literary Festival will take place in historic Dahlonega, Georgia, November 10-11. So far, guest authors include K.M. Deal, Tim Westover and Regina Jeffers.

New in Southern Voice 

A pair of works about redemption: Play Date, a short short by former Nashville musician Doug Hoekstra, and Hallelujah, a poem by Floridian Matt Walker.

 Photo Credit: Flannery O’Connor peacock photo by Joe McTyre/Atlanta Constitution.

See the Literary Friday Pinterest board here.