Literary Friday, Edition 68

Southern Shorts 

Writer Jacob Hobson has compiled a list of 7 Short Reads of Southern Fiction for us this week. From O’Connor to Welty, Walker and Twain, his list covers the masters and explains why short stories should be part of your summer reading regimen.

Literary New & Blogs 

Book Page has the Best 25 debuts of the 2000s, which gives plenty of nods to the South with works by Tayari Jones, Joshilyn Jackson and Kathryn Stockett.

Southern Foodways has compiled their summer roundup of Books Good Enough to Eat. We suggest browsing with a plate of barbecue.

It was announced this week that North Carolina romance writer Nicholas Sparks is coming to Lifetime. His series “Deliverance Creek” will begin with a two-hour movie set in the Civil War era that will serve as the pilot for an hour-long drama.

Vanderbilt, University of Mississippi, Sewanee and University of Texas at Austin make Flavorwire’s list of 25 Most Literary Colleges in America.

Truman Capote character Holly Golightly makes The Paris Review’s Chart of Famous Eyewear.

(Non)Required Viewing

Nick Offerman, better known as Ron Swanson on “Parks and Recreation,” offers up one-sentence summaries of classic novels for lazy English students.

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.

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. Festival guide and full details coming next week!

The 12th annual Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes will be held September 3-8 in Columbus, Mississippi. This year’s events include “Period of Adjustment” performed at Mississippi University for Women, the Moon Lake Party with Williams’ “Autumn Song,” the Stella Shouting Contest and a booksigning with author Michael Farris Smith of “Rivers” at his Victorian home.

Save the date for the Louisiana Book Festival, scheduled for November 2 in Baton Rouge this year. More 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

Today’s pieces hail from Virginia. Summer of the Cicadas is flash fiction by Leah Rogin, and Virginia to New York, Again and Roots are a pair of poems by Anina Robb.

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