Literary Friday, Edition 78

Celebrating Donna Tartt & a Giveaway for “The Goldfinch” 

Donna Tartt’s much-anticipated third novel “The Goldfinch” was released on Tuesday. One of our fall/winter reads, the book follows 2002’s “The Little Friend,” set in her native Mississippi, and cult classic “The Secret History,” published in 1992. While “The Goldfinch” is set in New York City and doesn’t have anything to do with the South, we’re not passing up the chance to celebrate this. Tartt has been all over the literary news this week, and thanks to publisher Little Brown we have a copy of the book to give away. Little Brown is also holding a Twitter Book Club for “The Goldfinch” on November 6, so mark your calendar and follow @littlebrown for more details.

*To enter to win a copy of “The Goldfinch,” comment here and tell us why you want to read this book. We’ll choose one winner on Monday.

Read a glowing review that calls “The Goldfinch” a myth exploded in Flavorwire.

Novelist Meg Wolitzer also reviews the book for NPR and explains why it’s nothing like Tartt’s previous novels.

Tartt’s By The Book interview in The New York Times reveals that she doesn’t like Hemingway and believes she and Tennessee Williams would have been friends had they met.

Her interview in Salon discusses “The Goldfinch” specifically as well as her writing process.

Going back in time, Tartt wrote a piece for Harper’s Magazine in 1992 titled Sleepytown: A Southern Gothic Childhood, with Codeine.

And to hear her Southern accent come through, listen to a 2002 interview with Tartt on NPR about “The Little Friend.”

Fall Reading Author Watch 

In our own pages this week, we featured “The Blood of Heaven” author Kent Wascom’s Creepy Cast of Characters and The Woman Behind 12 Years a Slave, now out in theaters.

“12 Years a Slave” has been all over the news since its October 18 release, with Harvard professor Annette Gordon-Reed commenting on its place in the literature of slave narratives in The New Yorker and Michael Twitty over at Afroculinaria writing about Southern Food: According to Solomon Northup.

The Bat Segundo Show cultural radio program has a rare long-form conversation with “The Maid’s Tale” author Daniel Woodrell.

Literary Events 

Vestavia Hills Library in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, presents Spooky Tales on the Spooky Trail tonight from 6:30-8 p.m.

The Texas Book Festival is this weekend in Austin with authors R.L. Stine, Sherman Alexie, Ayana Mathis, Meg Wolitzer and Joyce Maynard.

“Forrest Gump” author Winston Groom will be at Page and Palette in Fairhope, Alabama, October 30 to sign copies of his latest book “The Aviators.”

The Louisiana Book Festival is scheduled for November 2 in Baton Rouge this year, with Wally Lamb, Shirley Ann Grau, Rita Leganski and Beth Ann Fennelly attending. See our preview of authors and events here.

Fannie Flagg will be at the Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center in Fairhope November 5 for a luncheon, discussion and booksigning for her new novel “The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion.”

The Festival of Words in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, will be held November 7-9 with readings by nationally recognized authors, creative writing workshops, a community stage for open mics and drive-by poetry.

The Road to Tara Museum in Jonesboro, Georgia, will host Rhett & Scarlett Reunited … For The Evening on November 8, Margaret Mitchell’s birthday and a VIP event where two new “Gone With The Wind” themed exhibits will be unveiled.

The Key West Film Festival November 13-17 will feature special guest Mariel Hemingway and her film ”Running From Crazy” about her family’s history of mental illness. After the November 15 premiere and a Q&A session, a reception will be held at the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum.

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