Literary Friday, Edition 73
Literary News
Book Riot has 23 of Fiction’s Most Memorable Small Town Dreamers, including Scout, Dill, Huck Finn and Novalee Nation.
And in honor of the “As I Lay Dying” new movie tie-in cover, Book Riot decided to put James Franco on the front of 10 classic novels – just because.
The Atlantic also weighed in on Franco as Faulkner, describing the Twitter response to the new cover.
Adora Preaker from Gillian Flynn’s “Sharp Objects” and Olivia Foxworth from V.C. Andrews’ “Flowers in the Attic” make The Huffington Post‘s 11 Scariest Mothers in Books.
James McBride’s “The Good Lord Bird” about a slave in Kansas called Little Onion who is rescued by abolitionist John Brown and mistaken for a young girl, made the National Book Award Longlist.
The Paris Review has Hemingway’s Hamburger recipe, while Mental Floss lists 10 Cats Who Live at the Library, including Ernie in Virginia. We think Hem would approve.
The Louisiana Book Festival has posted its author list on its website. Looks like attendees will have the chance to meet Pulitzer Prize-winning author Shirley Ann Grau, Wally Lamb, Beth Ann Fennelly and Tom Franklin, Rita Leganski, Kent Wascom and many more authors this year. Stay tuned for interviews and a special Twitter chat with Leganski leading up to the event on November 2.
What We’re Reading
It’s been a great week for bookmail, as you’ve probably already noticed if you follow us on Instagram. Here’s a peek at what we’re reading and reviewing right now. Hint: Some of these will most likely end up on our Fall Reading List, coming soon.
Literary Events
Recap: One Book One New Orleans kicked off its literacy awareness campaign for 2013 at the Marigny Opera House on Wednesday. This year’s book selection is “Louisiana” by Erna Brodber. The entire community is invited to read the book, which tells the story of Ella Townsend, a Jamaican-born anthropologist who travels to St. Mary Parish on a fellowship in anthropology from Columbia University to document the lives of the small South Louisiana community. The goal of the campaign, which runs through December 4, is to start a dialogue about the low literacy rate in New Orleans. See more photos from the event here.
The Southern Food and Beverage Museum is hosting a Soul Food and Bourbon booksigning and discussion tomorrow at the new site of its Culinary Library on Oretha C. Haley Boulevard in New Orleans. Authors Adrian Miller and Kathleen Purvis will lead a lively discussion about the history and evolution of American cuisine and a quintessential Southern liquor through the lens of their new books.
“A Place at the Table” author Susan Rebecca White will discuss and sign copies of her book at Resource in Serenbe on Sunday. Read our interview with White here.
The book launch for 27 Views of Raleigh: The City of Oaks in Prose & Poetry will be held on Sunday at Quail Ridge Books & Music. Meet local writers, like Wilton Barnhardt, who capture the social, historic and creative fabric of Raleigh starting at 3 p.m.
Michael Farris Smith will be at Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, September 24 to sign copies of “Rivers.” Read our interview with Smith here.
The Ernest J. Gaines Center at UL Lafayette has announced that Gaines himself will stop by September 25 for a public reading. A discussion will follow and Gaines will also sign copies of his books.
A major survey of Edgar Allan Poe’s career opens October 4 at Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. Comprising more than a hundred works that explore Poe’s fiction, poetry, literary criticism and influence on diverse writers, “Terror of the South” will be on display through January 26.
The Southern Festival of Books in Nashville will take place October 11-13 at War Memorial Plaza. This year’s authors include Ace Atkins, Rick Bragg, Wiley Cash, Therese Ann Fowler, Tom Franklin, Ann Hite, Jill McCorkle, Mary Alice Monroe, Susan Rebecca White and many more.
Save the date for the Louisiana Book Festival, scheduled for November 2 in Baton Rouge this year.
New in Southern Voice
The Librarian’s Lot by Tom Sheehan and Ellie, An Epilogue by Reine Dugas Bouton, stories about librarians who become displaced from their books.
To find out more about Southern authors’ haunts and hangouts, download the Deep South Literary Trail App, available direct from iTunes and for Android.
