Literary Friday, Edition 67
Interview & Giveaway With Mary Alice Monroe
Our summer reading celebration is winding down, but we’ve still got a few author interviews and giveaways in our beach bag. This week it’s Mary Alice Monroe, who shares her love of the Carolina coast and explains why her books are best read by the sea. Monroe’s latest book, “The Summer Girls,” is set on Sullivan’s Island and follows three granddaughters spending the summer with their grandmother. For those who can’t get enough of the book, Monroe has announced it is the first of a trilogy, so we can all look forward to book two next summer. Read and comment on our interview with Mary Alice Monroe for the chance to win one of two copies of “The Summer Girls.” We’ll pick winners at random on Monday.
End of Summer Reading
We’re not quite ready to give up the dream of diving into a summer read by the pool or at the beach quite yet. Our 5 End of Summer Reads offer up a bit of mystery, romance and scandal for summer’s end. And stay tuned for our review and interview with “Lookaway, Lookaway” author Wilton Barnhardt later this month. On shelves August 20, the book is a hilarious narrative of a family coming apart that’s already received praise from Lee Smith, Joshilyn Jackson and Mark Childress.
Literary News & Blogs
National Book Award winner and Mississippi native Jesmyn Ward writes about racism in The New York Times this week.
A fight to save 14 libraries slated for closure in Miami-Dade County continues in Florida, and a Save the Miami-Dade Public Libraries Facebook page has been set up to distribute information and show support.
Speaking of libraries, The Cherry Cola Book Club author Ashton Lee talked to blogger Tamara Welch this week about why he chose to write a book that humorously depicts the problems libraries often face.
NPR’s review of Woody Allen’s latest film “Blue Jasmine” compares Cate Blanchett’s displaced character Jasmine to Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire.” “That Blanchett played Blanche DuBois onstage is a mixed blessing,” says reviewer David Edelstein.
Justin Nobel’s Notes from the forgotten South on the town of Zwolle, Louisiana, in The Oxford American this month is riveting reading about what’s happening in a small town named for a seaside one in the Netherlands.
Joshilyn Jackson revealed via Twitter this week that she’s begun using Pinterest to illustrate her books. Check out her inspiration board for Someone Else’s Love Story, due out in November.
Jungle Red Writers offers a reading guide for Ludy Burdette’s Topped Chef, one of our summer reading picks, along with a recipe for Lime Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.
We always welcome readers to share their own books with us. This week it’s Rose Johnson, a Georgia gal who wrote God, Me, and Sweet Iced Tea. Stop by and tell her hello in the emerging authors tent at the Decatur Book Festival later this month.
Literary Events
Birmingham Public Library offers free poetry workshops for adults on the first Tuesday of every month from 6-8 p.m., led by award-winning poet and community activist John Paul Taylor.
Flat Rock Playhouse presents “World of Carl Sandburg” and “Rootabaga Stories” through August 10 at the Sandburg Home Amphitheater located on the grounds of the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site outside Hendersonville, North Carolina.
The AJC Decatur Book Festival is scheduled for Labor Day weekend, August 30-September 1, in Decatur Georgia. In addition to Friday night’s keynote address by Congressman John Lewis, other special guests this year include Clyde Edgerton, inaugural poet Richard Blanco and some of our summer reading authors like Karen White, Wendy Wax, Claire Cook and Mary Alice Monroe. The festival has also announced a wide range of programming for children and the largest and most diverse LGBT track lineup in the festival’s history. Stay tuned for a full story with all the festival details coming soon!
Many of the authors on our Summer Reading List have booksigning events coming up. See our Summer Booksignings Calendar to find out if they’ll be in your town.
New in Southern Voice
The Snowbird by Anna Ingwersen and Lifeguard by Rachel Cochran, a pair of Texas summertime stories.
To find out more about Southern authors’ haunts and hangouts, download the Deep South Literary Trail App, available direct from iTunes and for Android.
