Literary Friday

Twitter Chat With Michael Morris

Join us from 1-2 CST time (2-3 EST) today for a Twitter chat with “Man in the Blue Moon” author Michael Morris. To find out more about Morris and why you should be reading his book, click here. We’re also excited that She Reads Book Club has chosen “Man in the Blue Moon” as their November book pick (official announcement coming on Monday). Read Kimberly Brock’s interview with Morris here, and get those questions ready. We’ve already had extreme dislike for town bully Clive coming in on Twitter, so Morris has some explaining to do.

To participate, we suggest using tweetchat.com. The hashtag is #southernlit. If you’re not on Twitter, feel free to leave a question on our Facebook page and we’ll make sure it gets answered.

Flannery O’Connor on Freaks

On October 19, we published the first audio clip from the lost Flannery O’Connor tape that was found in Lafayette. Below is a second clip of O’Connor talking about why Southern writers like to write about freaks. In case you missed it for Halloween, we rounded up Flannery O’Connor’s Top 8 Freaks (pictured is a sketch of “The Misfit” from The Composites). It’s all part of our celebration of O’Connor’s work leading up to the symposium that will be held here in Lafayette November 9-10. Find out more in Literary Events below, and to hear an interview with the professor who found the recording in her office, click here.

Flannery O’Connor “penchant for writing about freaks …: [audio:https://deepsouthmag.com/wp-content/audio/whenever_im_asked.mp3|titles=Whenever I’m Asked]

Literary News & Blogs 

The estate of William Faulkner is suing Sony Pictures Classic, the studio that made “Midnight in Paris,” for Owen Wilson’s uttering of the author’s well known phrase, “The past is not dead! Actually it’s not even past.” Heirs to the Faulkner estate say the phrase is copyrighted, but Sony Pictures is calling the lawsuit frivolous.

Read a review of Erika Marks’ “The Mermaid Collector,” one of our Fall/Winter Reading List picks, on A woman, a wife, a mom blog.

Flavorwire‘s Authors’ Funniest Responses to the Film Adaptations of Their Work includes Anne Rice on the casting of Tom Cruise in “Interview With a Vampire.”

Flavorwire also lists Barbara Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior” as one of 10 New Must-Reads for November.

The Huffington Post has an article in its Books section titled In Memphis You Can Use Your Library Card To Do WHAT?

It’s been reported that the December issue of Vanity Fair will feature an unpublished story by Truman Capote, titled “Yachts and Things.” Discovered in the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library, characters in the story are said to be based on many of his socialite friends. Pick up the issue, on newsstands now, to read the story.

(Non)Required Reading

Jonathan Rogers’ piece in The Huffington Post, Why Honey Boo Boo Is Like A Flannery O’Connor Character, made the social media rounds recently, exploring what is really means to be compared to “something out of Flannery O’Connor.”

To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion, written by the founder of the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans, releases on November 6. Sounds like the perfect Christmas gift for the Hemingway fan to us.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” tops Book Riot’s list of their readers’ 50 favorite novels. Now they want to know how many you’ve read?

(Non)Required Viewing

Watch an interview with Salmon Rushdie at Emory University about visiting the homes of Flannery O’Connor, Joel Chandler Harris and William Faulkner.

Literary Events

The Birmingham Public Library is showcasing the life and times of Birmingham civil rights attorney Arthur Shores in a special exhibit opening November 4. Shores’ daughters, Helen Shores Lee and Barbara Sylvia Shores, have written a book about their father and will sign copies during the opening reception from 3-5 p.m. The exhibit will be up through December 28. (Photo of Autherine Lucy, far left, Thurgood Marshall and Arthur Shores exiting the federal courthouse in Birmingham by The Birmingham News.)

All the Flannery O’Connor talk lately leads up to The Legacy of a Southern Catholic Writer Symposium we’re co-sponsoring in Lafayette November 9-10. The event marks 50 years since O’Connor spoke on the UL Lafayette campus and celebrates the discovery of the recording of her talk that was found there. The weekend opens with a cocktail reception and closes with a themed dinner and showing of “The Displaced Person.” Special guest speakers include Georgia State University professor Bill Sessions, who is working on the only authorized biography of O’Connor, and Brett Grayson with Good Country Pictures, who will be speaking about his company’s adaptation of “The Violent Bear It Away” on film. Portions of the recently discovered recording of O’Connor found on campus will also be played during the event. Click here for tickets.

The weekend of November 9-10 is also 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 

The Woman Who Was Mistaken for Flannery O’Connor by Cassandra Nelson and Hearse for Sale, a poem by New Orleanian William Miller.

To find out more about Southern authors’ haunts and hangouts, including the farm of Flannery O’Connor and childhood home of Truman Capote, download the Deep South Literary Trail App, now available direct from iTunes and for Android.