Literary Friday, Edition 84
Twitter Chat With Ann Hite & Giveaway for The Storycatcher
One of our Fall/Winter Reads, Ann Hite’s The Storycatcher is a spooky tale about dark family secrets on a secluded mountain and a wayward pastor determined to keep them hidden. We talked to Hite earlier this week about her setting of Black Mountain, based on a real North Carolina town, and her own experiences with ghosts, who permeate this novel and her previous one, Ghost on Black Mountain. Join us in chatting live with Ann Hite on Twitter from 1-2 CST today using the hashtag #southernlit. You can sign into our chat room here. We’ll also be giving away a copy of The Storycatcher to one lucky participant.
Literary News
Oprah has chosen The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd as her next book club selection. Set for release on January 7, the book tells the story of an urban slave in 19th century Charleston who years for life beyond the walls of her wealthy household.
The New York Times‘ Literary Feuds of 2013 includes Harper Lee vs. the Monroe County Heritage Museum.
A signed letter by Ernest Hemingway laying claim that the climate of Key West and its tropical beer inspired him to write For Whom the Bell Tolls will be auctioned off on December 19 in Los Angeles. The letter’s estimated worth is between $6,000-8,000.
Jesmyn Ward’s Men We Reaped, one of our Fall/Winter reads, earned a spot on Flavorwire’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2013.
And for those literary stocking stuffers, there’s 20 Famous Authors as Dolls. Hemingway’s comes complete with a typewriter and shotgun, of course.
Literary Events
The Southern Food and Beverage Museum presents Preserving Florida’s Culinary Culture, a fundraiser for a permanent Florida exhibit at the Culinary Library in New Orleans, December 18 at Sandbar Restaurant on Anna Marie Island.
The Key West Literary Seminar will be held January 9-12 and 16-19 this year with the theme “The Dark Side.” Guest authors include Megan Abbott, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Percival Everett, Gillian Flynn, Attica Locke (pictured) and Joyce Carol Oates.
The Atlanta History Center begins its 2014 Winter/Spring Lecture Series January 14 with James Carville and Mary Matalin on their new book Love and War: Twenty Years, Three Presidents, Two Daughters and One Louisiana Home. Future lectures will include Erskine Clark, Deborah Johnson, William Link, Kelly Corrigan, Nancy Horan, James McPherson, B.J. Novak, Karen Russell and more.
New in Southern Voice
The Smallest House, a story by Virginia native James Waine Carpenter, and Mountains, a poem by Mississippi’s Senior Poet Laureate Judy Davies.
To find out more about Southern authors’ haunts and hangouts, download the Deep South Literary Trail App, available direct from iTunes and for Android.
