Literary Friday, Edition 61

Twitter Chat With Erika Robuck  & “Call Me Zelda” Giveaway

Today we’re chatting with “Call Me Zelda” author Erika Robuck on Twitter from 1-2 CST (2-3 EST). Join us using the hashtag #southernlit. We talked to Erika earlier this week about why she chose Zelda Fitzgerald for her subject and what she was surprised to learn about the Alabama native. Get to know her before the chat in our interview here, and get those questions ready. Our co-host Tamara Welch of Traveling With T is sure to ask Erika to reveal her literary crush and who she has in mind to play Zelda should a movie version of her book ever come out. One lucky chat participant will also be receiving a copy of the book!

Summer Reading

Summer officially begins today, so don’t forget to consult our Summer Reading List for all your beach and pool reads!

The New York Times‘ review of Carl Hiassen’s “Bad Monkey” says “he hasn’t written a novel this funny since ‘Skinny Dip.'” Listen to the recent NPR interview with Hiaasen here.

Tamara Welch of Traveling With T interviewed Beth Albright, former “Days of Our Lives” star turned author of “The Sassy Belles,” this week. Get the dish on the book (along with the next two in the series) and find out how to win your own copy.

Literary News & Blogs 

Kimberly Brock has been awarded the Georgia Author of the Year First Fiction Award for her novel “The River Witch.” We saw her read at Lemuria Books in Jackson, Mississippi, last year:

UL Lafayette has acquired a rare copy of the manuscript of “A Confederacy of Dunces.” The university’s foundation purchased the manuscript, which is the only known copy and includes author John Kennedy Toole’s handwritten corrections, at a Sotheby’s auction in New York earlier this month for $25,000. The manuscript joins the university’s acquisition of several other items related to Toole at auction last June.

The Valdosta Times has a story about a new trilogy of novels on Old West figure “Doc” Holliday that were inspired by his family’s connection to “Gone With the Wind.”

No matter how you felt about the film, Baz Luhrmann’s version of “The Great Gatsby” has become the director’s most successful film to date, surpassing $300 million at the box office.

BookRiot has compiled 100 Must Read Works of Southern Literature including lots of classics and a list of books forthcoming by Southern authors.

Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of playwright Lillian Hellman by revealing why there’s a historical marker dedicated to her in Demopolis, Alabama.

Literary journal Floyd County Moonshine has a new website. Readers can now submit, subscribe and order issues through www.floydcountymoonshine.org, and the deadline for the next issue is June 30.

Literary Events 

The Birmingham Festival Theatre is presenting “The Last Flapper,” a play by William Luce about the life of Zelda Fitzgerald, through June 29.

The High Country Festival of the Book will be held in Boone, North Carolina, June 21 and 22 with authors Ann Hite, Erika Marks, Michael Morris and more.

Beth Hoffman, Dorothea Benton Frank, Karen White, Mary Alice Monroe and Mary Kay Andrews will all be signing books this weekend. See our Summer Booksignings Calendar to find out if they’ll be in your town.

New in Southern Voice

My Father’s Tractor, a poem about a son who returns home to work his family farm, by Scott T. Hutchison.

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